The Seven Dragoneers
by DemonDragonQueen
Summary: Wendy Marvell and her six brothers are slaves. She is resigned to her fate as a slave, but something happens that changes everything. They gain their freedom and soon run into Fairy Tail, a guild for mages. Will they stay and become part of the famous guild? Slight AU, minor pairings but not focused on romance. Sting and Rogue are also included. (T for language and violence.)
1. Chapter 1: The Most Beautiful Thing

**Hey! This is another fanfiction I've been dying to write! Unfortunately, I might not update regularly on account of my main fanfiction, Heart Warming Lightning, but I will try to. It might be every other week or something like that, or just when I feel like it. Anyway, please enjoy! This is slight AU because it's still in the universe of Fairy Tail, but it isn't connected to the story line. Minor pairings will be announced later on.**

**Shout Out: Check out my friend Pencilfreak 17 who writes Naruto stories!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail or the cover art.**

* * *

**The Seven Dragoneers Chapter 1: The Most Beautiful Thing.**

**By: DemonDragonQueen**

* * *

Wendy Marvell sighed and tried to silence her growling stomach. Maybe, if she was considered 'good' today, she would be fed something half decent, but she wasn't getting her hopes up. The last time she'd had something that would be classified as 'edible' was too long ago to remember, before she had become a slave. At age twelve, she had been a slave for two-thirds of her life. She was used to it by now, and was more philosophical about her fate to remain one until death, that's how slavery usually worked. A whip cracked against her back, interrupting her musings.

"Work faster!" A gruff voice shouted at her. She growled to herself, there went the decent meal she'd been thinking about.

'_Well done Wendy, any chance you'd had is gone now!'_ She mentally scolded herself. She continued her careful cleaning of the floor, absorbed in her menial task. She'd been working since dawn and still had three hours to go, she just wanted food, she would even forgo sleep.

"What are you doing?!" A loud voice screeched from somewhere in front of her. She flinched and glanced up to see Naomi, the spoiled daughter of her boss.

"Cleaning, Miss Naomi." Wendy answered respectfully, remembering in time that Naomi didn't like for slaves to meet her gaze.

"You're cleaning wrong!" Naomi shouted.

'_How would you know, seeing as you've never done anything even remotely _close_ to cleaning before?_' Wendy thought resentfully, but said aloud, "Forgive me ma'am, could you explain your dissatisfaction with my work?"

"Like you don't know!" Naomi sneered. "The floor isn't shiny enough, _obviously_!"

"Ma'am?" Wendy asked blankly.

"I can't see my reflection in the stone, so you're not scrubbing hard enough! Do the whole floor again! Also, before you do that, you! Punish her for me! I think that thirty lashes from your whip should help her to remember next time!" She snapped her fingers at the person overseeing Wendy's work. He nodded and stepped forward with his three-pronged whip.

Thirty lashes later, Wendy was cleaning again, and Naomi had disappeared. The lady's words echoed in Wendy's head.

_"Remember! You must be able to see your reflection when you're done, not that you'd want to. And you aren't allowed to go to bed until you finish! Also, no dinner for you tonight, for making me clarify my meaning!"_ She had sneered, and then she had flounced off, laughing. Wendy gritted her teeth as each movement sent lances of pain through her back, if she hadn't been a slave, she could've easily used her magic to heal the wounds, but unfortunately, magic was strictly prohibited when a person was a slave.

She worked until the sky outside had grown pitch black and she could hear the sounds of snoring coming from her overseer. Finally she finished and stood up, suppressing a groan as her back and knees throbbed in protest. She made her way to the slave's quarters, where her six brothers were supposedly sleeping. Supposedly because they could all be out still doing work, like she had been earlier.

She slowly opened the door and crept into the dark room, trying to make as little noise as possible. It didn't work.

"Where have you been?" A voice asked from behind her, and a candle flickered to life. She flinched and whirled around, almost letting out a groan as her back punished her for the sudden movement. Laxus was sitting on a stool, frowning sternly at her.

"Ah, Laxus-_nii_, you scared me." She gasped. Yup, this hulking, blonde, twenty-three year old was her older brother.

"Where have you _been_?" He asked more forcefully.

"Um...I, uh...I was working." She gulped as the stern expression on his face intensified.

"Doing what?" He asked quietly.

"Cleaning." She admitted.

"_Cleaning_? At two o'clock in the morning? Who made you do that?" He demanded angrily.

"_Shhh_!" Wendy said desperately, if the others found out that she had been made to work five hours past the usual requirement, Naomi would be dead, and then Wendy and her family would be dead. "Look, Miss. Naomi wasn't satisfied, so she made me work a little longer is all." She told Laxus, who raised one eyebrow.

"Is that _all _she did to you?" He asked, and she gulped again. When she didn't answer, he stood up and walked towards her. "Turn around." He commanded. When she hesitated, his frown grew more pronounced. "_Turn around_." He said his voice hard. She swiftly turned around. She felt him lift up her shirt. "_Shit._" He muttered as he surveyed her back. She shivered as the night air blew against it. "How many did she give you this time?" He asked from behind her.

"Th-thirty." She mumbled. His hand gently brushed against one of the wounds, instantly her back arched and she had to bite her lip to keep from crying out. Behind her, Laxus sighed. He scooped her up in a princess-hold, careful to avoid her injuries, and took her to the tiny space they had for a bathroom. He began to bathe her back, gently cleaning the wounds. She clamped her mouth shut to keep from hissing in pain as he did so.

"Damn, what was she so mad about this time?" Laxus asked.

"Um, something about not being able to see her reflection in the floor." Wendy answered quietly. Laxus felt his hands clench, but when she stiffened, he forced himself to relax.

"Tch, such a stupid thing to punish you for." He growled.

"I know, but it's not like I can do anything about it, she's the Master's daughter, she can do to me whatever she wants, even if she's just a spoiled brat. I don't understand why she hates me so much." Wendy murmured dejectedly. It was true, for some reason, out of _all_ of the slaves under her father's control; Naomi seemed to only hate Wendy. She ignored the other slaves and did her very best to make Wendy's life hell, which it was even _without_ Naomi's help.

"Maybe she just wants to feel superior, you guys are the same age and maybe she feels that, since she is of a higher status, it's her place to preside over you." Laxus said. "There, I'm done, try not to tear these scabs, I've put bandages and ointment on your wounds, you should be okay in about a week since you heal fast. Being a Dragon Slayer really comes in handy, huh?" He rubbed her head, messing up her hair.

"Laxus-nii!" She complained, swatting his hand away.

"Go to bed, we wake up dark and early tomorrow." He said, smiling fondly as she stuck out her tongue at his joke.

"'Night Laxus-nii!" She yawned. She left and went to bed, tired from the day's activities. Laxus watched her, then cleaned up around him and went to bed himself; the last thing he thought about was the desperate need to escape with his family.

* * *

...

A bell signaled through the air, waking up everyone in the room.

"Get up!" A man shouted, then slammed the door shut so he could go wake up everyone else.

"Urg, is it time already?" Pink hair became visible from under a thin blanket.

"Oi Rogue, get up!" A black haired boy stood up blearily and glared at the boy who had spoken.

"You're lying down Sting; don't tell me to get up!" He walked over and kicked a blonde haired boy in the stomach.

"All of you guys are making my ears hurt, just shut up already!" A crimson haired boy sat up and stretched.

"You shut up, Cobra!" The other two shouted simultaneously.

"All of you shut your fucking pie holes!" A grumpy looking guy with long, spiky black hair threw off his covers. A large fist slammed down on his head. "What the h-?" He began, turning around. He found an annoyed Laxus glowering down at him.

"Didn't I tell you to watch your mouth when Wendy is in the room?" He hissed, indicating the blunette who had just awoken.

"Don't worry about it so much Laxus-nii; I hear worse than what Gajeel-nii says all around the castle. I know that all of you guys say that stuff, so it's no big deal. When Sting-nii and Rogue-nii are fighting, they call each other worse names than that." She said calmly and went to the bathroom, unaware of the punishment that she had caused Sting and Rogue to suffer.

When she came out of the bathroom, both of them were cradling their heads and glaring resentfully at Laxus, who was trying to wake Natsu up.

"Come on! Get up! Unless you want to miss breakfast?" He said ripping the covers off of the unfortunate pink-haired boy.

"Argh, five more minutes." He groaned in response, weakly grasping for the unreachable blanket.

"Yeesh, after eight years of slavery, you'd think he would be more used to waking up by now." Rogue muttered. Sting just grinned.

"That's Natsu-nii for you!" He said cheerfully.

"Wendy, what's wrong?" Cobra asked sharply from where he was getting dressed. Everyone turned to the young girl and caught a slightly guilty look on her face, before she hid it.

"Um, nothing Cobra-nii, nothing's wrong, why do you ask?" She said, trying to appear innocent.

"Don't lie, you just thought, '_Ow, I hope my back doesn't hurt too bad today. I'm tired; I wish I had gotten more sleep last night._'" He said narrowing his eyes. Wendy's eyes widened, she had forgotten about his ability to hear people's thoughts. She cursed to herself, how careless of her. _Of course_ he would be able to hear her thoughts. "And now you're thinking, _'Oh crap, what now?_'" He peered at her suspiciously.

"Come to think of it, you weren't here when I went to sleep last night, which was around nine. Where were you?" Sting asked, frowning. Wendy was at a loss, she absolutely _couldn't _tell them what had happened.

No sooner had this thought crossed her mind when Cobra frowned. "What do you mean you can't tell us? We're your brothers, you can tell us anything!" He approached her. She backed up and accidently poked her injured back on the corner of one of the small nightstands they had in their room. She sucked in her breath as pain lanced through her back, and then covered her mouth in horror. The damage was done unfortunately, for all six of her brothers had super human hearing, thanks to their Dragon Slayer Magic. They all looked at her, Laxus excluded, and surrounded her in a circle, even Natsu was up.

"Wendy, what's wrong?" He asked, staring at her. She gulped.

"Kid, just tell us, we won't yell at you." Gajeel sighed.

"Pr-promise you won't overreact?" She whispered. They glanced at each other, and then nodded as one.

"We promise." Rogue answered for all of them.

"All right, the thing is..." Wendy told them what had happened the previous night. By the time she was done, every single one of them looked livid and ready to tear Naomi apart.

"That bitch! I'll kill her!" Natsu yelled.

"No wai-!" Wendy began.

"Leave some for me! How dare she?!" Sting growled.

"Sting-nii, I'm ok-!" Wendy turned to him.

"I'm going to tear her apart, how dare she do that to you?! That little bitch is going to be fucked up by the time I'm done with her!" Gajeel roared.

"Gajeel-nii please sto-!" Wendy begged.

"She will suffer eternal torture for her actions." Rogue said in a low voice.

"Rogue-nii!" Wendy said desperately.

"I'm all for going to kick her ass now! Who's coming?" Cobra shouted. The others growled assent, and turned around.

"STOP!" Wendy shrieked. They all whirled back around. "Please just _stop_! Think about what you're doing!" She cried.

"We're going to kill the snotty bitch that hurt you." Gajeel snarled.

"I don't need you to do that! I'm fine! I can handle my own problems, I don't need you guys to treat me like I'm eight! What I _need_ is for you guys to _not_ overreact, just like I asked you to already, and to _calm down_! This is why I didn't tell you in the first place!" Wendy replied exasperated. Her brothers had the decency to look slightly ashamed, but they were still mad.

"She's right guys, we can't harm the Masters daughter, if we even threatened her, she'd either kick us out, sell us, or punish Wendy more." Laxus said from where he standing.

"Yeah, I guess you're right." Cobra muttered.

"As much as I want to kill the girl, I also want to protect Wendy from further punishment because of our actions." Laxus admonished.

"Argh, fine! We'll leave the bitch alone!" Natsu growled, raking his hand through his hair.

"Thanks guys." Wendy looked relieved.

"Yeah, but next time something like this happens, tell us immediately, okay?" Sting told Wendy; who nodded. "Alright, let's go get breakfast." They all filed out of the room. Wendy wolfed down her helping before reporting to the Slave Master for her duties.

"Alright, Wendy... You have laundry duty today." He told her briefly. Wendy sighed and went to the laundry room, where she proceeded with her job for a few hours. At twelve she was released for lunch, along with the other servants and she met up with her brothers.

After lunch she went back to doing laundry, when she heard shouting in the hallway. She ducked out of the laundry room to investigate. She saw an older slave beating and yelling at a young girl with light brown hair.

"Stupid girl! Can't you do anything right?!" He yelled, kicking her.

"I'm sorry, please forgive me." The girl sniffed, trying to get up.

"Stay down and take your punishment brat! Because of you I've got another two hours added to my work time!" He kicked her again.

"Stop it! What are you doing?!" Wendy cried running up to him. The male turned around.

"Stay out of this!" He snarled.

"Not until you tell me why you're hurting her!" Wendy said defiantly.

"The stupid girl dropped food all over the floor and I'm going to have to pick it up!" He snapped. The other girl started to rise. He raised his hand to slap her, but Wendy held his wrist to stop him. "Let go! She needs to learn!" He shouted at her.

"She has learned her lesson; I think you need to stop now." Wendy said calmly. His face twisted in anger.

"You do, do you? What do you think of this?" He yanked his hand out of her grasp and backhanded her, causing her to stumble back.

"What is going on here?" A high pitched voice rang out and footsteps echoed in the passageway. Wendy cursed internally; Naomi was walking towards them, a frown on her face.

"Get out of here now!" Wendy hissed to the little girl, who nodded and bolted. She reluctantly turned to face Naomi.

"Ma'am!" The other servant stiffened.

"What's going on?" Naomi repeated, spotting Wendy. Her eyes narrowed. "You! Are you causing trouble again?" She spat.

"Yes ma'am, she disrupted my disciplining of a fellow slave." The other slave said.

"I stopped you from going too far." Wendy corrected him.

"She could've taken some more." He snapped back.

"Enough! What did said servant do?" She asked impatiently.

"The clumsy girl spilled food all over the main entrance, which I had cleaned two minutes before." He explained.

"And you halted her punishment why?" Naomi lifted her eyebrow. "It appears you are just making trouble and feel like you are in charge."

"Not at all!" Wendy protested. "He had already punished her suitably and I felt that any more might cause permanent damage."

"That is not for you to worry about. It is not your place to reprimand other slaves. You have caused an unnecessary scene, and are slacking off of your work. Twice in two days have you done this; I shall have to give you a more severe punishment. You shall spend double the time you've wasted inside the 'Black Hole'." She commanded. The other slaves face, which had been smug up until this point became terrified. Wendy felt the blood drain from her face.

The 'Black Hole' was the ultimate punishment, besides death. It was on the same level as the dungeons. It was a hole twenty feet deep and ten feet wide in the ground, completely devoid of light. Any person who stayed there was in danger of going blind. It was a damp, cold, and hellish place that contained rats, spiders, and all sorts of other things. To spend four days there was unimaginable. They sent down food once a day and water three times.

"Ma'am, I don't believe that she deserves that harsh a punishment." The other slave protested. Naomi turned to face him.

"If you don't wish to join her, you will keep silent." She snapped, causing the man to gulp and close his mouth. "Now then, your punishment is effective immediately. You will stay in the 'Black Hole' for exactly ninety-six hours." She rang a bell and a guard came running. "Take her to the 'Black Hole' immediately." She ordered. He nodded and grabbed Wendy's arm. He hauled her to the lowest floor, where he gave word to another guard that she was to be put into the hole for ninety-six hours. She was placed on a platform and was lowered into a dark hole and when she had reached the bottom, she got off and the platform rose without her.

Wendy looked around, shivering. The rumors had not lied, the hole was the darkest black she had ever seen, and was cold enough to make her shiver. She heard the scratching footsteps of rats around her. She found the wall and sat down beside it, only to have the moistness of the ground seep into her pants. She drew her knees close to her and lay her head down on her arm.

"Someone, please get me out of here." She whispered to herself.

* * *

...

Laxus was repairing a broken chair in the workshop, when a young brown haired girl burst into the room. He looked up, startled. She looked around then spotted him and ran over.

"A-are you Laxus?" She gasped, doubling over.

"Yeah, what's up?" He asked, looking at her in concern. He heard a sniffle. She looked up and he saw tears running down her face, she sniffled again. "Wha-hey! Why're you crying?" He exclaimed.

"Good job Laxus, what're you bullying little girls now?" Cobra snorted, from where he was fixing a table.

"No-shut up!" Laxus growled.

"I-I'm sorry, it's not his fault." The girl sniffed, wiping her tears away. "You have a little sister right? She has blue hair?" She asked.

"Yeah, why?" Alarm shot through Laxus as the tears increased their flow.

"I-I'm sorry! I didn't mean for her to-hic-get punished-hic!" She gasped. Cobra stopped working and stood up.

"What do you mean 'punished'?" He asked.

"Sh-she was sent to the B-Black Hole because she defended me." The girl began to cry in earnest now; her sobs rang throughout the room.

Laxus felt the blood drain from his face.

"_What_?!" Cobra exclaimed. "How the hell did that happen? What did you do?" He asked the girl.

"Alright, calm down and explain everything that happened." Laxus heard himself say. The girl slowed her crying, and explained how she had spilled food all over the main entrance and how an older slave had been punishing her when Wendy stepped in. She told them how Naomi had heard the fight and had come running and how Wendy had told her to run before Naomi could catch her. The girl explained that she had hidden in a nearby room and had heard Naomi give Wendy her punishment.

"That bitch gave Wendy such a punishment for something like that?!" Cobra roared, outraged. Everyone in the room glanced over at him.

"Keep it down you damn moron!" Laxus snapped. "Do you _want_ the whole world to know?"

"Fuck them! We need to save Wendy!" Cobra retorted.

"I know, but we should let the others know first. We'll have to come up with _something_." Laxus sighed, trying not to show his panic or anger. "Hey little girl; thanks for telling us. You should probably lay low for a while, try not to make any trouble, even if you don't mean to." He told her.

"Yeah, I'll do that. I-when you see Wendy again, can you tell her thank you? From me I mean. Also, I hope you guys save her soon." She darted out of the room.

* * *

…

That night, Laxus called a family meeting.

"What's the deal man?" Sting groaned; he just wanted to go to sleep.

"How come Wendy isn't here? She _is _part of the family." Rouge frowned, looking around for their little sister.

"Actually, that's the reason I've called this meeting." Laxus cleared his throat. "Don't freak out, but...Wendy is in the 'Black Hole'." He told them. Dead silence met him. All of his brothers were looking at him blankly.

"Ha ha, that's funny! Seriously, what's the reason?" Natsu cackled. Laxus frowned, but Cobra answered before he could.

"This isn't a fucking joke, dip shit! Wendy is in serious shit right now, and we need to save her!" He exclaimed.

"Wait...what?! How can _Wendy_ be in the 'Black Hole'?" Rouge asked, glancing at the two of them in disbelief.

"Naomi is how." Laxus said bitterly. "Wendy helped out another slave and got in trouble for interfering. If it had been anyone else, she might've gotten off with a scolding, but Naomi had to be the one to hear the argument. And since Naomi has been after Wendy ever since they've known each other, she sent Wendy to the 'Black Hole' for a stupid reason, just out of spite."

"I'm gonna murder that mother-fucking bitch-faced WHORE!" Gajeel shot out of his chair and was halfway to the door, when Laxus blocked his path. "Out of my way!" He snarled.

"No! Right now we need to save Wendy! We can worry about Naomi later. Wendy is our first priority!" Laxus ordered.

"If you seriously think I'm gonna let that fucker get away with-!" Gajeel began furiously, when Laxus interrupted him.

"Do you think that I _don't_ want to rip her apart?! Right now, as much as I want to fucking _obliterate_ Naomi, the thought of making Wendy stay any longer in that hell makes me even angrier. Think how scared she must be right now!" Laxus commanded.

Gajeel resisted for a moment, before growling in frustration. "Fine!" He snapped. "Wendy is more important." Laxus heaved an unseen sigh of relief.

"Great, now let's go figure out how to save her." He said.

* * *

...

Wendy jerked awake, breathing hard. She had been dreaming about giant rats that had had Dragon Slayer Magic for some reason. She shivered; they hadn't been very nice dream material. She shook her head.

"What are you, five?" She asked herself in disgust. "Getting so worked up about a dream; for shame Wendy Marvell!" Her voice echoed in the hole, she shifted into a more comfortable position. She wondered how long she had been in the hole; she had never been one for instinctively telling time. They hadn't fed her yet, so she assumed that it hadn't been even twenty-four hours yet. Speaking of food, she hoped that they would feed her soon, her stomach rumbled. "What can I say? I'm a growing girl." She told the walls. She frowned; this talking to herself would have to stop. "No more talking it is." She sighed, and then cursed as she realized she had done it again. "Whatever, no one's going to hear me anyway." She sighed. She shivered again, drawing her damp clothes as close to herself as they would go. "Where are you? Laxus-nii, Cobra-nii, Sting-nii, Rogue-nii, Gajeel-nii, Natsu-nii..." She drifted off to sleep whispering their names.

...

Cobra growled in frustration. Too damn_ slow_. Initially he had agreed to Laxus's plan, but it was taking too long. He knew adding pressure wouldn't help, in fact it might make it slower, so he kept his mouth shut, even though on the inside he longed to storm the dungeons so he could save Wendy. 'Hold on, just a little longer Wendy, we're coming, I promise we'll save you.' He silently begged.

* * *

...

"Watch out below!" A voice called. Wendy scrambled out of the way as the platform was lowered down.

"Finally." She grumbled, taking the food off of the tray, and pulling on the cord to signal that she had the food. She viewed the food in distaste. Of the three days that she'd been in there, the food hadn't improved any. It could only be classified as 'gruel'. Hardly appetizing. She ate it anyway, knowing that she wouldn't get anything better. She shivered, and then frowned; she seemed to be doing a lot of that lately. Not really surprising, all things considered, having spent three days in cold, damp clothes that leached the warmth from her body didn't do wonders for her body's natural attempts to stay warm. Still, it was annoying; shivering every two minutes made her feel like she was having a seizure.

She shivered again. '_Damnit!_' She ran in place for a few minutes hoping to warm herself up. The action failed and only made her slightly thirsty. She sat down and pulled herself into a ball. The only warm part of her was her forehead and torso. This troubled her, as she was learned enough in medical information to know she had a slight fever. She shrugged philosophically, as soon as she was free, she would get better. Her thoughts were interrupted by a shout from above, except that it wasn't to her.

"Hey! You shouldn't be in here! Stop! Sto-!" This last part was abruptly cut off by the sound of something heavy hitting another object, and the sound of a body collapsing to the ground.

"Kid! You down there?" A familiar voice called.

"Gajeel-nii?" Wendy answered in amazement. Relief flooded through her, her brother was here!

"Hey! I'm sending the platform down, get on and I'll haul you up." He ordered. Before long, the familiar shape of the small platform came into view as it descended. As soon as it reached the ground, Wendy tried to stand up-only to find she was too light headed to do so. Alarm shot through her as dizziness threatened to make her sick. She shook it away and determinedly crawled to the platform, she _would_ get onto it, one way or another.

"Okay!" She called, startled to hear her voice come out in a croak. '_Oh, _now_ you get sick!_' She growled to herself. She swallowed, and felt alarmed as she found it hard to do so. Then, she noticed that she was shivering. '_Shit, this is bad!_' She thought. She shivered violently as the platform slowly rose to the top; each second seemed like an eternity. She smiled as she saw Gajeel's worried face come into view. He pulled the platform onto solid ground.

She tried to sit up, but her strength failed her, so she ended up flopping forward awkwardly.

"Hey, what's wrong? Are you alright?" Gajeel asked. He helped her up. He took in her wet clothes, dirty face, and shivering body. He also noticed that her lips were tinged blue. She leaned heavily on him.

"S-sorry Gajeel-nii, I can't stand up properly. I appear to have gotten sick." Her teeth chattered as she looked apologetically up at him. Despite her misery, she smiled at him, happy to see him again. He immediately picked her up in a princess hold.

"Damn, you're shivering like crazy." He muttered, starting to walk.

"Ju-just a little c-cold." She answered, snuggling closer in attempt to capture his warmth. Her head was pounding, and her hands felt numb. A familiar smell met her nose as they turned in a hallway. A smell that comforted her and was always associated with the feeling of safety. "Laxus-nii." She murmured, turning her head slightly. Laxus was running towards her, relief turning into concern.

"What's wrong?" He asked.

"She's sick, I'm no medic, but I think she's pretty bad." Gajeel answered grimly.

"Shit!" Laxus ran a hand through his hair in distress.

"D-don't worry, I'll b-be okay." Wendy mentally kicked herself as her shivering hindered her speech.

"Like hell you are kid." Gajeel growled. "Where are the others?" He asked Laxus.

"Waiting for us. Give her to me; you can protect us if we run into anyone. It'll be faster this way." Laxus said. Gajeel grunted and handed Wendy over. They started to run. She shivered as the air blew into her. She snuggled as close to Laxus as was physically possible. He glanced down at her in concern. He propped her against himself and held her with one arm as the other snaked its way to her forehead. She was burning up, which completely contradicted her blue-tinged lips. "Shit Wendy, your fever is insane." He muttered.

"C-cold Laxus-nii." Was all she could force out of her chattering teeth.

"We'll get you to Natsu soon, alright?" Laxus sped up, taking Gajeel by surprise. Wendy just closed her eyes. They reached the place where the others were after a few minutes, which was long enough for Wendy's shivering to become nonstop, and for the blue tinge to become more prominent. The others looked around as they heard the sound of running feet. Relief showed on their faces, which quickly turned to horror at the sight of their younger sister.

"Wendy!" Sting and Cobra exclaimed together.

"What's wrong with her?" Rogue asked in concern.

"She's spent three days in a damp, cold place and is now sick. Natsu, come over here and take her as you're the warmest of us all." Laxus said shortly. Natsu immediately came over and took Wendy from Laxus. He was concerned by how much she was shivering and by how cold her skin felt. He noticed her blue lips and increased his body heat. Her eyes opened.

"Natsu-nii?" She asked. He smiled down at her, hiding his concern.

"Hey! How're you feeling?" He asked cheerfully.

"Cold. Where a-are we g-going?" Her teeth chattered.

"We're leaving. We're done with this place." He grinned as her eyes widened in shock.

"Natsu! Let's go! Stay in the middle, we'll cover you, keep her warm!" Laxus ordered, and motioned for the others to form a circle around the two. Sting and Rogue brought up the rear, while Laxus and Cobra led the way. Gajeel stayed beside Natsu, just in case there was an attack from the side.

* * *

_Wendy's P.o.V_

I began to feel the warmth from Natsu-nii's body as he ran with the others. I hated being so helpless, but I knew that I was in no condition to even consider trying to stand up. From time to time, Natsu-nii glanced down at me to see if I was okay. I could hear Laxus-nii and Cobra-nii talking up front, but I didn't register what they were saying. At first I wondered if we were going to escape unhindered, but after several minutes, we ran into a guard patrol. Fortunately, there were only three of them and my brothers managed to take them out quickly. We moved on, not bothering to hide the bodies.

My vision grew darker as I struggled to remain conscious, I was just so _tired_.

My brothers quite literally blasted through the front doors of the manor where we were slaves, and easily took out the four guards stationed at them. Since we weren't slaves any more, my brothers could use their magic freely. The blackness became more forceful as we ran through the front yard, dodging ranged magic attacks from the manor. We finally made it to the forest that was on the edge of the estates property. The last thing I saw before blacking out was the far away view of the mansion, and the path to the rest of our freedom.

It was the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen.

* * *

**See you next chapter!**


	2. Chapter 2: Meet Fairy Tail

**Hey another chapter is out! Wow, I can't believe my first one got so many reviews, follows and favorites! Thanks for the support, I'll try and live up to your expectations!**

**Shout out: check out my friend Pencilfreak 17 for those of you who enjoy good Naruto fanfics!**

**Recap: Last chapter Wendy was thrown into the 'Black Hole' by her master's daughter, Naomi. Her brothers rescued her and they managed to escape from the manor, and are on the run currently.**

**Disclaimer: I DO NOT own any part of Fairy Tail, just the idea for this story.**

* * *

**The Seven Dragoneers: Meet Fairy Tail**

**By: DemonDragonQueen.**

* * *

_Wendy looked around, all she could see were flames and smoke. People ran past her, screaming and shouting indecipherable words. They ignored the four year-old who stood in their path. _

_"Grandeeney!" Wendy cried. No one answered her call, the flames were closer now, they devoured buildings and fields. "Grandeeney!" Wendy cried again. She began to run away from the flames and smoke, calling out her mother's name. She stumbled and fell, scraping her knee. She got up crying, and limped out of town, still whimpering her mother's name. She came to the edge of the forest and entered. She walked until she ran out of energy; at this point she sat down and sniffled. "Grandeeney...where are you?" She choked out. She heard footsteps in front of her, but was too tired to look up._

_"Little girl, are you lost?" A voice asked her. She looked up then, with tears clouding her vision. She saw a tall figure in a dark blue cloak, bending down over her._

_"I-I lost my mommy." She sniffed._

_"Come with me, I'll help you." The man stretched out his hand. Wendy hesitated as some inner voice warned her against accepting his help, but her desire to find her mother overpowered this warning, and she took his hand._

_He led her through the forest, until they reached the end of it. By now she was dead tired, but she didn't complain for fear he would leave her behind. She heard the murmurs of people, and something almost made her stop, a bad feeling in her gut. Before she could act, the man turned around._

_"Just a little farther, come on." He said encouragingly. She nodded and pushed forward, ignoring her bad feeling. They arrived at a building, where he led her inside and closed the door behind them. She didn't notice as he locked it, she was too absorbed in her surroundings. They were in a two story building that had paintings on the walls and a nice rug on the wooden floor. "This way." He directed her through a door in the back wall. Inside, she saw a much larger room, disproportionately larger. The next thing she noticed was the large amount of people in chains and shackles in the room. All eyes were on her, and then the man behind her._

_"Get away from him little girl!" Someone shouted, and everyone began to yell at once._

_"Let us go bastard!"_

_"Let her leave! She's just a kid!"_

_"Silence!" The man snapped and he pressed a button on a remote control in his hand. The people stopped talking as collars on their necks zapped them with a burst of magical energy. "Little girl, don't listen to them." He turned to Wendy, who was backing away with fearful eyes._

_"W-where's my mom? You told me you'd help me find her!" She cried._

_"Unfortunately that won't be possible, your mother is dead. I said I'd help you, I didn't say how. I love the naïveté of children; they'll follow anyone who speaks the right words." The man grabbed her arm. "Prepare for your life as a slave." He laughed as she struggled in his grasp._

_"Let me go! _Let me GO!"

Wendy jolted awake and shot up.

"Wendy, calm down. You're okay now." A familiar scent and voice invaded her senses. She turned to her right and found Laxus looking at her in concern.

"Laxus-nii?" She asked confused. She glanced at her surroundings. They were in a large room that had beds alongside the walls and a few windows on the far wall to her left. A door on her right opened, and in poured her other five brothers.

"Wendy!" They all shouted and she winced at the sudden noise, then she smiled.

"Hey guys, what's going on? Where are we?" She asked.

"We're in a mages guild called Fairy Tail." Natsu answered excitedly.

"Mages? You mean like us?" Wendy asked, confused.

"Yes and no. While the people here can use magic, we're the only ones who can use Dragon Slayer Magic." Laxus answered.

"Oh, how long have we been here, and how did you find this place?" Wendy inquired.

"We've been here about a week; you've been unconscious for two." Cobra replied.

"_Two weeks_?!" Wendy exclaimed in shock.

"Yeah, you really had us worried kid." Gajeel grunted.

"Wait, so...what? I still don't understand why we came to a mages guild; does that mean that we are safe from the slavers?" Wendy's head spun. Her brothers exchanged looks.

"Maybe we should tell you what happened." Laxus said.

**Flashback...**

**"Shit, shit, shit!" Natsu panted as he ran alongside the others. "Guys, Wendy won't wake up! We need to get her some medical attention soon!" His brothers turned their heads around and looked at their unconscious little sister. **

**"Arg, we can't unless we want to get caught. We're almost out of the forest, she'll have to wait." Laxus growled. Natsu nodded, suppressing a barrage of complaints. He knew that Laxus was just as worried as he was, if not more so.**

**"Laxus, do you have any idea where we're supposed to go?" Cobra asked in a harsh whisper.**

**"Yeah, the manor is close to the border between Bosco and Fiore; I'm planning to take us there." Laxus answered.**

**"What makes you think Fiore will be any better?" Cobra asked skeptically.**

**"I used to live there and I know that they don't keep slaves and that there are these things called guilds where mages can find work and stuff. Unlike Bosco and Seven, they welcome their mages, they don't suppress them. It's the only plan I've got." Laxus replied.**

**"So what, do we just waltz into the country and say 'Hi, we may or may not be escaped slaves on the run from a dangerous lord in your neighboring country. Mind if we stay awhile?'" Cobra asked sarcastically. Laxus glared at him. He **_**was **_**having trouble formulating a plan, but he would come up with something, he **_**had**_** to. For his family.**

**"Look, right now I'm more focused on getting the hell out of Bosco and getting some medical attention for Wendy. I'll have to worry about the other stuff later." He said.**

**"Yeah, like that won't come back to bite us in the ass later." Cobra rolled his eyes. Laxus ignored him.**

**In the middle, Natsu glanced down at Wendy for what seemed like the fiftieth time, hoping to see her eyes open. No such luck, her eyes were squeezed shut and while her lips weren't as blue, she still shivered.**

**"How's she holding up?" Gajeel asked from beside Natsu.**

**"I don't know, she **_**seems**_** to be a little better, her lips aren't as blue, but she's still shivering like crazy." Natsu replied. Gajeel grunted, sparing his sister a glance. The group of Dragon Slayers continued on their course, until they reached a small sign. It read:**

**WARNING!**

**YOU ARE LEAVING THE COUNTRY OF BOSCO AND ARE ENTERING THE COUNTRY OF FIORE. TURN BACK IF YOU DON'T WISH TO LEAVE.**

**"I guess we're here then." Laxus said as they all finished reading the sign. "From this point on, we won't be known as escaped slaves, only free mages." They all thought about it for a minute. "Let's go, we're burning daylight by just standing around." Laxus led the way into the new country.**

* * *

**...**

**"Hey, can we take a break now that we're in a town?" Natsu asked. The others turned around.**

**"I guess, we don't have any money though." Laxus answered.**

**"That's fine, I just need a breather." Natsu replied. **

**"Hm, you guys go wait over there in that park; I'll try and find someone to help Wendy." Laxus ordered, pointing to a nearby park. They nodded and went to the park.**

**"Hargeon Park. Hmph, I guess that's what this town is called then." Gajeel muttered, looking at the sign in front of the park. They made their way to a bench, where Natsu gratefully set Wendy down.**

"**Nice place huh?" Sting commented, taking in the peaceful area. He sat down on the ground next to the bench.**

**"Look mommy! Those people are dressed funny." A young girl's voice caught their attention. Instinctively, they glanced at their clothes. Torn, dirty, and barely recognizable, they did look a little out of place. Not only that; but everyone around them was wearing casual clothes such as t-shirts, shorts, sandals, etc.**

**"Don't point honey, and don't talk to them either. Let's go." The mother told her child, hurrying off, occasionally glancing at the group like she was afraid they would try and mug her.**

**"Maybe we should get some new clothes." Rogue murmured. Cobra glared at him.**

**"With what money; dumb ass?" He demanded.**

**"Oh yeah, we don't even know what currency they use here." Rogue realized. Cobra just rolled his eyes.**

**"Forget those people; if what Laxus says is true and there are guilds for mages that provide pay, all we have to do is find one that'll accept Dragon Slayers." Sting said dismissively. Unknown to him, Laxus was thinking the exact same thing.**

* * *

**...**

**"Mage's guild? No we don't have any in this town, sorry." A man told Laxus.**

**"Well, do you know if there are any in some nearby towns?" Laxus asked desperately.**

**"Hm, well there **_**is**_** Fairy Tail. That's in Magnolia, which is a town to the north of us. You can easily take the train there." The man said thoughtfully.**

**"Alright, thanks, we'll just have to walk. Thank you for your help." Laxus shook the man's hand before walking towards the park. He stopped when he realized he hadn't asked how far it was. He sighed and went to find a map.**

* * *

**...**

**The five Dragon Slayers looked when they heard footsteps. They saw Laxus approaching them, holding a large piece of paper in his hands.**

**"Well?" Gajeel asked. Laxus glanced up.**

**"I found a town with a guild in it called Fairy Tail, but the town is kind of far away since we're walking. I managed to get a map, and it looks like we'll be walking for at least three days in order to get there." He told them, referring to the map. **

**"Three **_**days**_**?!" Gajeel growled. "Wendy needs help **_**now**_**! Not only that, but we have no food, water, clothes, or equipment for traveling of any kind!"**

**"I'll just eat fire." Natsu pitched in unhelpfully. Gajeel turned to him.**

**"Not all of us can eat fire you damn moron!" He snapped.**

**"Alright enough!" Laxus interrupted them before the fight could progress. "Obviously we don't have anything that we need, which is why we need to take a job in order to get some money."**

**"We can just take a job? I thought we had to be in a guild." Rogue asked.**

**"I thought so too, but I asked around and apparently there are these people called 'freelance mages' that don't work under any guilds and just take jobs." Laxus replied. "I've already got a job that should get us some food at least." He showed them a crumpled piece of paper.**

**HELP WANTED!**

**Looking for strong mages to get rid of a group of Vulcans. **

**LOCATION: Edge of Hargeon. Look for small cottage with red roof and tan walls.**

**REWARD: 70,000 jewels.**

**"What the heck are 'jewels'?" Natsu asked.**

**"The currency here, I guess. So are you guys in?" Laxus asked. The others shrugged and nodded. Natsu picked up Wendy.**

**"By the way, what are 'Vulcans'?"**

**"Maybe they're bugs or something."**

* * *

**...**

**"Not bugs! Definitely not bugs!" Natsu yelled, dodging a punch from a large, purple creature with green fur. It grinned and punched again. This time Natsu caught it and punched back, his fist blazing.**

**Over to his left, Gajeel was battling another of the strange creatures. "Die already you motherfucking-!" The rest of his sentence was cut off as another one appeared behind him and kicked him, knocking his down. He got up, swearing. "Dammit Sting! Watch your damn opponent!" He yelled. Sting came over, looking sheepish.**

**"Sorry 'bout that, he ran off before I could stop him." He grinned. Gajeel just growled. The Vulcan fighting Natsu spotted the still unconscious Wendy behind him.**

**"Ooh, pretty woman! Me likey, she'll be my wifey." It said joyously. It ambled towards her, only to be stopped by Natsu.**

**"The fuck did you just say?!" He roared. "No way in hell will I let you marry Wendy! Fire Dragon's: Iron Fist!" The punch caught the Vulcan in the stomach and sent him flying. Natsu turned around, only to see **_**another**_** Vulcan ogling his sister. "Fuck off!" He yelled, blasting it away with a well placed Dragon's Roar. He charged into another fight, fire coating his body. Eventually, they managed to defeat the remaining beasts.**

**They returned to their client's house, where they received their pay. They returned to the inner area of Hargeon, where they decided to buy food and clothes before anything else.**

**Natsu bought a pair of white pants that seemed a little baggy on him, a pair of sandals, an open-collared, one sleeved, purple waistcoat that was trimmed in purple. He also wore a white scarf that he'd had when he was a slave, but had just been carrying around.**

**Sting bought a blue vest with golden outer edges and inner edges covered by gray fur that looked similar to a feather boa over a short, cream-colored top. He wore dark blue gloves that reached mid-bicep, the edges of which were adorned by light gray bands that hung down several inches. He wore cream colored pants that were similar to Natsu's, but they were held up by suspenders which were attached to his pant's loops by gold, square shaped rings. Over them he wore dark blue galosh-esque footwear that reached to the upper edge of his pants.**

**Rogue purchased a long, black cape, with golden edges that reached his feet, a much lighter collar that circled his neck, and a white ribbon that hung down his chest. Below it, he wore a gray shirt with brown cuffs and a large metal band that each of his biceps. From a light sash around his waist hung a pale blue cloth waist guard that consisted of four long pieces of cloth that reached below his knees. Each of these pieces was adorned by a large, dark cross with fan-shaped arms. Below his waist guard, Rogue wore a pair of armored boots, which, in the front bore the same motif as what appeared on the waist guard.**

**Cobra found a few things to his liking including an elaborate whitish coat with purple inner lining and cuffs intricately decorated by silver colored motifs. Many studs line of the chest of the coat, and it had high collar and its sleeves had armbands that appeared to be made of metal around them above his elbows. Below his coat, Cobra wore a dark shirt. He also sported a pair of crimson leather pants that were held up by a studded belt, with more similar belts circling diagonally the upper parts of his legs. His shoes were simple and brown.**

**Gajeel bought a shabby, black, sleeveless tunic with studded edges, a studded belt that went around his waist, loose beige pants that he tucked inside the pair of black boots he also bought, and a pair of studded brown gloves that were paired with a couple of similarly studded wristbands. He also got a black, wing-like ornament that seemed to be made of feathers and that jutted upwards, over his right shoulder, attached to his tunic by another stud.**

**Laxus reluctantly bought some clothes after they told him it was a necessity. He ended up with a large, hooded light cloak, a dark shirt under a long jacket closed by a simple belt, loose dark pants that ended below his knees, where each leg had a light band circling it, and boots.**

**As they had no clue what to get Wendy, they bought her a few items that would fit her and would be comfortable and practical at the same time. They had a small amount of money after they bought the clothes and food, so they bought travel backpacks and blankets enough for them all. Finished with their preparations, they set off towards Magnolia, where they hoped that the guild there could help their sister.**

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**...**

_**Time skip...five days later...**_

**Mira was tending to the bar, everything was normal, and she was feeling somewhat bored. She looked over at Fairy Tail's newest recruit, Lucy. The blonde Celestial Spirit Mage was hiding something, but then again, who wasn't? Lucy had joined about a week ago, courtesy of Levy, who had found her wandering the town and had invited her to join Fairy Tail. The two were in deep conversation, and Mira kept hearing the word 'book' in their conversation. She didn't mean to eavesdrop, but they were rather loud for trying to be secretive. She sighed and wished that her day would miraculously become more interesting.**

* * *

**...**

**The six brothers stood in the middle of Magnolia, drenched thanks to the torrential rainfall that was occurring.**

**"Damn this rain! Wendy's getting worse again!" Natsu growled, doing his best to shield the girl from the large amounts of water being dumped on them.**

**"We're almost there, come on." Laxus answered shortly. They followed him until they reached a large building, with the words Fairy Tail on the front, as well as several flags with a strange symbol on them. They went up to the closed doors.**

**"Should we knock?" Rogue asked.**

**"Fuck that man, Wendy needs help now, screw being polite." Natsu growled; he proceeded to kick the doors open, as his hands were occupied with the task of carrying his sister. Heads inside the building turned as six men, one of whom was carrying a young girl, marched into the building. "Hey! Any of you guys use Medical Magic?" Natsu shouted, looking around. No one answered, still shocked by their sudden appearance. "Please! My little sister is really sick and she needs help!" He said beseechingly. Mira snapped out of her shock.**

**"Of course, follow me, I'll do my best, but we may have to call Polyursica." She warned, leading him to the medic bay.**

**"Who?" Sting asked anxiously watching her movements.**

**"Our guild medic. Just how long has she been sick? She's really weak and pale." Mira asked.**

**"Eight days now." Rogue answered, still dripping from the rain.**

**"**_**Eight days**_**? Why haven't you gotten help before now?" Mira exclaimed.**

**"We didn't have a choice!" Cobra snapped. Laxus put a hand on his shoulder to calm him down. Cobra looked at him, then nodded and looked away. Mira watched their literal silent conversation in confusion, but turned back to the girl with blue hair.**

**"Alright, you guys can stay here until the Master comes back. Can I have some names to work with when I introduce you all?" She asked.**

**"Name's Laxus."**

**"Gajeel."**

**"Cobra."**

**"Natsu."**

**"Sting."**

**"I am Rogue. And that's Wendy." Rogue pointed to her. Mira nodded filing away the information.**

**"Alright, I'm going to have to undress her, unless one of you-" she began.**

**"We'll do it. Sorry, but if Wendy finds out that we let someone else undress her, she'd probably kill us." Laxus volunteered, while the others nodded fervently. They'd all witnessed her anger before, and weren't keen on doing so again. Mira was mildly surprised, but nodded.**

**"I'll be outside the door, call me when you're done. There are some spare clothes in the drawer over there, they should fit her." She told them, before leaving and closing the door behind her.**

**"That was close, good thing she asked us first." Sting sighed, the others nodded. They wouldn't have wanted someone they barely knew see their scars, so they knew that Wendy, who was the most self conscious out of all of them, definitely wouldn't have wanted that to happen.**

* * *

**...**

**Mira stepped outside and closed the door. She desperately wanted to know why they hadn't let her undress the younger girl, but respected their privacy anyway.**

**"Who are they?" Erza asked, her long scarlet hair rippling and moved.**

**"Some random people, I don't know if they're mages, if they're a family or anything about them really. Just their names, and that the girl they were carrying is very sick." Mira answered.**

**"Hm, do you think they pose a threat?" Erza asked.**

**"I guess it depends on whether they're mages or not. Either way, Master will decide. One thing I am positive of is that blue girl that is with them is very important to all of them." Mira replied.**

**"They could be acting." Erza suggested. Mira shook her head.**

**"I know acting when I see it, Erza, even if they have evil intentions, the love they all feel for that girl is very real." Mira said. Just then the door to the medic bay opened, and Sting, (was that his name?), stuck his head out.**

**"She's decent." He said. Mira waved goodbye to Erza and went inside. Wendy had been tucked into bed and was now being watched over from all sides by the six others in her group.**

**"I can't have so many in here at once. Family only, please." Mira said, getting medicine ready.**

**"We're all her family." Gajeel said firmly, looking her in the eye. Mira was surprised.**

**"**_**All **_**of you? Well...in that case just stand back, I guess. I've never had so many family members for one person before." She mused, and administered Wendy's medicine.**

**Flashback end...**

"And that's all, basically." Laxus finished. Wendy sat in shock, she had missed so _much_!

"Wow, I really don't know what to-" she started, when the door opened. A pretty woman with long, white hair and blue eyes walked in. Wendy instinctively liked her.

"I see you're up." The woman said cheerfully.

"This is Mirajane Strauss. She's a member of the guild." Laxus introduced her.

"N-nice to meet you, ma'am." The instant it left her mouth, Wendy regretted her choice of address. '_Will she find out?_' She thought fearfully. Mira however just smiled.

"You're quite polite, but it is unnecessary here. Just Mira is fine, Wendy." She told her kindly. Wendy flushed and nodded. She turned to Laxus.

"How come I was so sick? Normally I recover quickly from sickness, and I haven't gotten so sick in a while." She asked.

"I believe I can answer that." Mira said. "There were traces of some kind of poison in your system, for the purpose of slowing down your recovery process. It looked like it had been slipped into your food." Wendy's eyes widened.

"What?!" Her brothers exclaimed.

"I-it must have been Naomi...she must've ordered it put into my food during those three days..." Wendy murmured, looking down.

"Wait, Naomi was a terrible person, but _poison_?!" Rogue asked.

"Who else could it have been? Her dad didn't give two fucks about us, and she's always had it out for Wendy." Cobra retorted.

"If I had known, I would've fucking ripped her to shreds before we left!" Gajeel snarled. Wendy took a deep breath and looked up.

"No, it's a good thing you didn't. I'm okay, and since we're never going to see her again, it's better if we just leave it." She said firmly.

"_What_?! That bitch tried to kill you!" Natsu and Sting exclaimed, while Gajeel looked at her incredulously.

"No, I don't think so. Even if she did, it doesn't matter now, she's long gone. Anyway, I'm forgetting about it, so I would like it if you would too." She answered calmly, giving one of her pleading looks. They all wavered and folded under her look.

"Ah, fine, if you're not holding it against her, I guess I won't either." Sting sighed. The others nodded. Mira looked on with interest; it was quite something that the young girl had managed to calm all of her brothers.

"So...are you all planning on staying here?" She asked.

"We'll have to talk to your master first." Laxus crossed his arms. "Do you know when he'll be back?"

"Sometime today or tomorrow. You all _are_ mages, right?" Mira asked.

"Yeah, we all use magic." Cobra answered.

"Would you mind telling what kind?" Mira asked. The seven glanced at each other and seemed to have another silent conversation.

"Sorry, we're going to wait until your master returns." Cobra answered, not sounding sorry at all. Alarms went off in Mira's head, but she kept the smile on her face.

"Alright. If you would like, you can all come out to the guild hall. Wendy will have to stay here though; she's not strong enough to get up yet." She suggested. All of them immediately shook their heads.

"We'll stay with Wendy, thanks though." Natsu said firmly. Wendy frowned.

"I don't need all of you to stay here with me. I'm fine, go eat, or something." She told them.

"We're fine Wendy, we'll watch over you." Sting protested. Wendy rolled her eyes.

"That's it, you're driving me crazy. I'm not four okay?" She said, getting out of bed. She brushed aside their outstretched hands. She proceeded to push them all out of the room. "Go! I'll be fine, you look worse than I do." She commanded, after she had shoved them all out, she closed the door. Then, she opened it again. "Love you." She said, and closed the door again. Inside, she sighed and almost collapsed as she felt a wave of light headedness wash over her. Mira caught her and led her back to the bed, where she lied down.

"I'm very impressed with how you are able to control your brothers." She remarked. Wendy smiled.

"Comes with years of practice. Sorry they're so overprotective, they mean well." She said.

"Don't worry about it." Mira's smile widened. Just then, they both heard a large crash that came from the other room. "What was that?" Mira asked, alarmed. Wendy sighed again, this time in exasperation.

"That'll be Natsu-nii and Gajeel-nii fighting. I should go try and calm them down." She muttered, getting up.

"You need to stay in here and rest. Let your older brothers handle it." Mira scolded. Wendy gave her a baleful glance.

"They'll make it worse, trust me." She said, going to the door. She stepped out of the room, with Mira's help, and surveyed the situation. Natsu, Gajeel, Sting, and Rogue were fighting, and Cobra and Laxus were arguing.

"Geh, fuck off Light Freak!" Gajeel snarled, kicking Sting. Sting retaliated by throwing a punch, only to miss and hit Natsu. Rogue came up behind Gajeel and elbowed his head.

"Forget someone?" He asked. Gajeel growled and turned to fight him, only to have Sting thrown on top of him. Shoving him off, he marched up to Natsu who was laughing.

"What's the deal, Salamander?!" He yelled, head butting him. Natsu staggered back and then punched Gajeel.

"Calm down Metal Head!" He responded. Shouting interrupted Gajeel's response, and they turned to Laxus and Cobra.

"Don't be a moron." Laxus said his eyes narrowed. Cobra laughed.

"_Me_? The moron? Oh, that's rich! This is coming from the guy who plans exactly _no_ steps ahead!" He sneered.

"Hey! You're welcome to help any time! I didn't see you adding any ideas!" Laxus growled.

"Like you'd listen to me anyway." Cobra snorted. Wendy could smell ozone in the air as Laxus's annoyance grew. Apparently Cobra noticed too, for his sneer grew more pronounced.

"Aw, are you getting annoyed now? Is scary big brother going to punish me?" He asked, in mock-fearful voice. He laughed. "Come on then, big guy! Take your best shot!" He said. Laxus glared at him. The other brothers cowered in fear; fights between Cobra and Laxus were always enormous and not fun to be in the middle of. Especially if they were both mad, like they were at the moment.

"You need to learn to shut your damn mouth, Cobra." Laxus snapped. Cobra's eyes widened and he stuck a fake look of fear on his face.

"Then why don't you come shut it for me?" He sneered, the look melted away. Wendy knew that she would have to step in before they started. She firmly told Mira to stay back before going up to them.

"What are you two doing?" She asked calmly. They both turned to her.

"Stay out of this Wendy." They said at the same time. Her eyes narrowed, causing them both to flinch.

"What did you say?" She asked her voice dangerously quiet. Neither of them answered. "Care to explain why when I leave you all alone for thirty seconds, I find you fighting?" She inquired. They all looked ashamed.

"Uh..." Natsu looked around helplessly.

She sighed, and dropped the tough-girl act.

"Can you please get along? We barely know these people and you're already scarring them. I don't want to have to watch you guys get carted off to jail because you destroyed enormous amounts of property, just because you were fighting." She pleaded, giving them her biggest puppy-dog eyes. They all crumbled under the look, they couldn't say no to such eyes.

"Alright, have it your way Wendy, sorry Gajeel, Natsu-san." Sting ran his hand through his hair sheepishly. The others apologized to him and Rogue as well.

"Che, fine. Sorry Laxus, I didn't mean it." Cobra sighed.

"Me neither." Laxus answered. Wendy smiled happily. Then she pitched forward.

"Wendy!" Cobra caught her before she could hit the floor.

"Idiot, be careful!" Gajeel exclaimed, walking over.

"Don't overdo it Wendy." Rogue scolded from behind Gajeel.

"That's right, you're still recovering. Take better care of yourself!" Sting told her, frowning slightly.

"Don't worry about us; get your strength back first." Laxus admonished from beside Cobra.

"Yeah, we won't fight while you're like this, so focus on recovering." Natsu said, worry in his voice. The people around them looked on in wonder. They had gone from a fighting atmosphere to a family one in a span of a few seconds. The doors to the guild hall opened.

"What's going on here?" A voice asked. Laxus froze and turned around slowly.

"No way." He muttered.

"Master! You're back!" Mira called cheerfully.

"Indeed, who are these people?" Makarov asked, gesturing to the group of Dragon Slayers.

"You're the master?!" Laxus exclaimed. Makarov's eyes widened.

"Laxus?" He whispered, shock on his face. There was silence as everyone glanced between the two of them. Wendy looked at her older brother with worry in her eyes.

"Don't tell me that he's your-" she whispered. He nodded without speaking. Suddenly, as the tension reached an unbearable point, Makarov rushed forward and hugged Laxus.

"Laxus! My dear grandson!" He cried.

* * *

**Okay! That's the end of this chapter! Thank you for reading! Also, I have my minor pairings. Natsu x Lucy (No NaLi or LaLu or LoLu here, sorry), Gray x Juvia, Mira x Freed (sorry Miraxus fans, I don't really ship them on account of my other fanfic), Wendy x Romeo (this will probably come in the very far future as Wendy is twelve), Sting x Yukino, Gajeel x Levy, and I want opinions for the other Dragon Slayers. Cobra will either be alone, with an OC, or Kinana(sorry if that's misspelled), Laxus will be with my OC from Heart Warming Lightning, or alone, and Rogue will be with Kagura, an OC, or will remain signal. I can't decide what to do with them, so please tell me which you prefer. Thanks for reading and I'll see you next chapter! XD**


	3. Chapter 3: Circles and Strings

**Hey! It's me again! Wow, so this story hasn't updated in forever, and I am sincerely sorry about that, but technology sucks, and that is all I'm gonna say. Anyways, sorry this is so short, but the next chapter will be longer I swear. Thanks sooo much to all of those amazing people who reviewed, it really makes me happy that you all care enough to do so. So, in answer to last chapter's poll (of sorts), Cobra will most definitely be paired with Kinana, that was unanimous by all. As for Rogue and Laxus...Well, I don't quite know yet. Quite a few of you wanted Minerva to be paired with him, while others liked the KaguraxRogue idea, so I don't know yet. With Laxus...I don't even know what happened there, but I'll figure it out by the next few chapters. Still would like your input to make things easier :).**

**Shout out: Go check out Pencilfreak 17 after your done this, if you are into Naruto, 'cause you won't regret it!**

**Recap: So, lots of stuff happened last chapter. With our seven Dragon Slayers finally free from their cruel masters, they take Wendy to the nearest guild from where they came out of Bosco, which just happened to be Fairy Tail! And, if that wasn't enough, the master of Fairy Tail is Laxus' grandfather! (Lots more actually happened, but it isn't included in this recap)**

**Disclaimer: I own NOTHING of Fairy Tail, otherwise Natsu and Gajeel would be S-class XD**

* * *

**The Seven Dragoneers Chapter 3: Circles and Strings**

**By: DemonDragonQueen**

"_What_?!" The entire guild exclaimed. Makarov ignored them and continued to hug Laxus, who knelt down and hugged him back.

"Master, this is your grandson?" Erza asked. Makarov nodded and stepped back, with tears in his eyes.

"It's been eleven years since he disappeared." He said. Everyone gasped in surprise. The other Dragon Slayers came up to stand behind and beside Laxus. Wendy hugged him while the others either placed their hands on his shoulders or simply hovered next to him. "I never forgave Ivan for your disappearance. I searched all over Fiore you, for nigh on seven years, even in other countries." Makarov told Laxus, who had his eyes covered by a hand. "I never gave up. To this day I have believed that you were alive."

"Gramps…" Laxus's voice broke.

"Laxus-nii, raise your head, it's okay to cry sometimes. You told me that once, remember?" Wendy whispered gently, still hugging him. His hand came away from his eyes, his eyes were slightly moist.

"Yeah man, you've told us all that before. You said it's not weakness, if anything its strength." Natsu said from behind Laxus, who wiped his eyes and offered a half smile.

"Thanks guys." He said. Wendy smiled.

"Of course! What is family for after all?" She asked. Makarov viewed the scene with happiness.

"Who are these others?" He asked.

"They're the family I made when I was a slave." Laxus said, standing up.

"A slave?" Makarov whispered in horror. All of them nodded.

"We all were. We met and became like a family." He said. "In Bosco we were moved around constantly because no one feels very safe with seven Dragon Slayers. We finally ended up at a manor near the border between Fiore and Bosco. We escaped two weeks ago and happened to come here."

"I see…how did you all come to be slaves?" Makarov asked.

"I was kidnapped by some slavers when Ivan and I were visiting. I managed to escape for a brief period, but I was eventually caught again." Laxus answered.

"I'm an orphan, so I was easy pickings. They found me on the edge of Bosco's border, and they got me." Cobra said indifferently.

"Rogue and I were-," Sting was interrupted by a shriek.

"GAJEEL-KUN?!" A girl with blue hair streaked into the guild and tackled the Iron Dragon Slayer to the ground.

"The fu-? Juvia? St-stop! That hurts damn it!" Gajeel yelled, pushing her off and standing up.

"Juvia missed you so much!" The woman sobbed, latching her arms onto him. "She has never forgiven herself for what you did for her! Because of Juvia, Gajeel-kun had to go through slavery! If she hadn't been so stupid and-!" She never finished for Gajeel clamped his hand down on her mouth.

"Jeez Rainwoman, care to shout any louder?" He hissed. "I told you then and I'll tell you now that it ain't your fault." Juvia's eyes began to flow even more, and she hugged him so tightly he had trouble breathing. Gajeel, who was fully aware that every eye in the room was on the two of them, patted her head awkwardly. "Calm down, stop crying won't you?"

"How do you know him, Juvia?" Mira asked. Juvia lifted her head and sniffed.

"Gajeel-kun was Juvia's best friend before he was caught. Gajeel-kun saved Juvia from slavery nine years ago. Even though it was her fault he was caught. She has never forgotten him or forgiven herself." She answered in a choked voice. Gajeel rolled his eyes.

"What did I tell you about that?! It wasn't your damn fault already!" He glared down at her.

"So…if you don't mind me asking, how long were you all slaves?" Erza asked.

"All of us became slaves at different times, except for Sting and Rogue; I was eleven as mentioned already, so for twelve years." Laxus answered.

"It's been eleven years for me; I was taken at age ten." Cobra said.

"I was eight…so ten years for me too." Natsu said thoughtfully.

"Rouge and I got caught around the same time and place, so nine years for us." Sting replied.

"I-I got captured eight years ago." Wendy said quietly.

"So young…" Mira said shocked.

"How did you escape?" Makarov asked. They all exchanged a look, and Wendy looked embarrassed.

"Er, I guess that was my fault." She said sheepishly scratching the back of her head.

"You say that like it's a bad thing." Sting snorted. Wendy shrugged.

"It's still my fault; I never said it was a bad thing. You see, our previous master's daughter really hated me for some reason, so she punished me, and my brothers rescued me and we ended up leaving for Fiore." She explained.

"A _very_ brief explanation, but yeah, that's basically what happened." Laxus commented dryly. She just rolled her eyes.

"Anyway, we ended up here because it was the closest to where we were when we left Bosco, and we had wanted to find somewhere we could take jobs." Sting picked up where she left off and glanced around the room to see the reactions. Most of the people in the guild either smiled or didn't react.

"Of course you all can join! Right, Master?" Mira looked quickly at Makarov who nodded instantly.

"If you wish to stay, the Fairy Tail will welcome you with open arms." He told everyone. The seven Dragon Slayers smiled. "Now, let's celebrate the induction of our newest members!" He exclaimed. Fairy Tail burst into cheers, and Mira rushed to grab drinks for everyone. Wendy smiled, and then her body decided to remind her that it was still recovering by suddenly losing all of its energy. She latched onto the nearest bench she could find, where she proceeded to sit down with relief. She waved away her concerned brothers and told them to go have fun. After a few minutes, Mira brought her some juice, before leaving and telling her not to strain herself. Wendy watched her brothers interact with people around the guild, and mentally noted the girls they were talking to. Gajeel seemed to be having fun with a petite, blue-haired girl who had glasses on the top of her head and a book in her hand. Natsu was annoying a blonde girl who looked very much like a princess in Wendy's opinion. Rogue was busy scolding Sting for something and Cobra was, surprisingly enough, holding a civil conversation with one of the bartenders, who had short purple hair and who also wore a long skirt.

Wendy was jolted out of her musings when someone sat next to her with a loud sigh. She turned around and saw a boy, who looked to be about her age with dark purple hair and blue eyes, grinning at her.

"Hey, I'm Romeo Conbolt, you're Wendy, right?" He asked, holding out his hand. She nodded and took it before standing up and giving a bow.

"Nice to meet you Romeo-san." She said politely, sitting back down again.

"So, are all of those guys your brothers?" He asked, indicating the other Dragon Slayers.

"Not by blood, but we still consider ourselves a family." She replied honestly.

"Cool." He said nodding.

"What kind of magic do you use, Romeo-san?" She asked.

"Just Romeo is fine, and I use Rainbow Fire and Purple Flare. See?" He formed a ball of purple fire in his hand.

"Cool, Natsu-nii would like you I think; he uses Fire Dragon Slayer Magic, meaning he can eat any kind of fire, except for his own." Wendy told him as she looked at the fire.

"Wendy! Tell Lucy to stop being so mean to me!" Natsu came running over dragging the blonde he had talking to earlier with him. Wendy stood up and looked at him in exasperation.

"Natsu-nii, what have you done this time?" She asked him reprovingly. He gave her large, innocent eyes.

"Nothing. This is Lucy, Lucy this is my sister Wendy." He introduced them. Lucy yanked her wrist out of his hand before turning to the younger girl with a smile on her face.

"Nice to meet you Wendy." Lucy said calmly. Wendy bowed and smiled back.

"Likewise Lucy-san. Was my brother bothering you? Please forgive him." She gave Natsu a slight, scolding look. Said person pouted and looked away.

"It's fine Wendy; he was just talking to me is all. And you can call me Lucy, no honorifics are needed." Lucy told her kindly. Wendy blushed slightly.

"Sorry, it's force of habit." She said sheepishly. She was about to say more, when she got light headed all of the sudden, and she stepped forward uncertainty. Natsu noticed immediately and rushed over to prevent her from collapsing.

"Idiot! You're still recovering; don't tire yourself out so much!" He reprimanded her gently as he sat her back down on the bench.

"Thanks Natsu-nii. I'll be fine now." She told him.

"Alright, but if you need anything, call and one of us—or all of us—will hear you. Also, don't worry about staying out here if you're too tired to; go back to the med-bay if you need to." He said, fussing over her with a gentle look on his face. Wendy smiled and nodded.

"Don't worry Natsu-nii, I'll be fine, now go have fun." She said. He left with Lucy and Romeo, who had apparently taken an interest in him, and Wendy was left alone. She watched the guild party and then get into a brawl, started by one of her brothers of course, and smiled when she saw her brothers having fun. Various people came to talk to her, but they always left soon afterward, she didn't mind, she felt too tired to hold a long and intelligent conversation. She didn't even realize that she had started to doze off until she nearly fell off of the bench, only to be caught by large, and gentle, arms.

"Stupid, go to the med-bay if you're so tired." Cobra sighed as he picked her up and carried her across the guild hall. She just nodded murmured 'thanks' and fell asleep. He looked down at her and shook his head. "What am I supposed to do with you?" He muttered affectionately. He put her on one of the beds inside the med-bay and left, closing the door quietly behind him.

"Is she alright?" The white-haired bartender asked, Mira, if he remembered correctly.

"Yeah, she was just tired." He answered gruffly.

"Good. Anyway...so what do you think of Kinana?" She asked suddenly. He narrowed his eyes, literally hearing where her thoughts were going.

"She's nice, I guess, but I'm not really looking for a relationship like that if that's what you're thinking." He answered. Her eyes widened.

"Oh! I didn't realize you swung that way! If that's the case then I certainly introduce you to-" her ramblings were cut off by several, frantic head shakes.

"Hell no, woman! I absolutely DO NOT like that kind of thing! What the hell is your problem?" He shouted.

"I don't know, Cobra. I could easily see how someone would think that about you, your hair sometimes even makes _me_ wonder." Laxus butted in with a wide and mischievous grin on his face. Cobra turned to him glaring furiously.

"Fuck you man!" He snarled.

"What's going on?" Natsu asked cheerfully, walking over to see what the commotion was all about.

"I think they're questioning Cobra's sexuality." Sting commented, coming up behind him.

"Not much to say there then, is there? I think his hair is a dead giveaway." Gajeel chuckled as he too walked over. By now, Cobra's face was the same color as his hair in either embarrassment, anger, or a mixture of the two.

"Shut up! You guys are fuckin' nasty!" He growled, looking dangerously close to snapping. Laxus laughed and put an arm on his shoulder, which he proceeded to lean on.

"He's right, we wouldn't want to injure his _fragile _feelings, he can be _so _emotional at times." He said teasingly. Before Cobra could say anything, Gajeel joined in.

"Yeah, it's probably that time of the month again. Gi hi hi." He laughed loudly as Cobra furiously shoved Laxus' arm off of his shoulder. The others joined in, while Mira watched in amusement and guilt in equal parts.

"You all are so immature, grow the hell up already!" He growled.

"Aw, did we hurt your feelings, Cobra-chan?" Gajeel taunted. Natsu nearly collapsed from laughter while Sting held him up, doing his best not to do the same. Laxus was smirking broadly as Gajeel openly pointed and laughed. Rogue was shaking his head off to the side. Cobra's eye twitched and he charged forward, body slamming the Iron Dragon Slayer.

"That's it you bastard! You're fucking dead!" He roared, punching Gajeel into the floor. Gajeel got up and punched him back—or he tried to, Cobra easily dodged and kicked him away.

"Learn how to take a damn joke you psychotic moron!" Gajeel shouted back.

The others watched as the two of them went at it, not surprisingly, Cobra was winning.

In the end, Gajeel walked away with bruises and some injured pride, while Cobra looked around, daring his other brothers to come and fight him. Natsu might have responded to the challenge, but fortunately for him, Laxus stopped him, having decided that Cobra had been aggravated enough for one day.

"You all are very close, aren't you?" Erza asked Rogue. He turned to her.

"What do you mean?" He asked, confused.

"Well, the fact that you all know each other so well in a fight attests to your familiarity with each other. From what I have seen, those two are very capable fighters. Are all of you that strong?" She inquired. Rogue shrugged.

"We're all on different levels. Laxus is most likely the strongest; with Cobra as a close second. Gajeel is about the same level as Natsu and Sting and I are practically even. Wendy, while being the least capable in battle, is probably one of the smartest and best battle support mage out of all of us." He replied.

"Do you think that you are S-class?" Erza asked.

"S what?" Rogue asked, confused.

"S-class, it's a higher mage level in our guild, currently we have four. Mira over there, Mystogan, who is out right now, myself, and a man named Gildarts." She replied

"What kind of magic do you and the other S-class mages use?" He asked.

"I use Ex-quip Magic for arms and armor, Mira uses Take Over Magic, Demon Form, Gildarts uses Crash Magic, and no-one really knows what kind of magic Mystogan uses, he always puts everyone to sleep when he comes here." Erza responded. Before Rogue could ask another question, a brunette with a barrel in her arms staggered over. If he didn't know any better, Rogue could have sworn she was drunk.

"Heey Erzaa. Who's the newbie?" She asked, her speech slurred. Scratch that, definitely drunk.

"Cana, how many does that make today?" Erza sighed. The brunette screwed up her face as she thought about it.

"Don' know, but it's definitely more than twenty, lost count somewhere 'round there. Too hard, ya' know?" She hiccupped. "Anyway, you sir-" she pointed at Rogue "-need to lighten-hic-up!" She said sternly.

"I'm sorry?" Rogue asked.

"Aw, look at that-hic-he's so polite! That's sweet." She giggled insanely. Erza shook her head.

"Enough, Cana. Give him a break. What would Gildarts say?" She scolded her.

"Aw, that's just mean, bringing up my old man like that." Cana pouted.

"I'm sorry, she's normally quite nice." Erza said, turning to Rogue. He nodded in acceptance of her apology.

"So, how do you determine who gets to be an S-class mage?" He inquired, intrigued.

"Well, every year or so, the Master holds a trial of sorts for those who are potential S-class. He determines the candidates beforehand and he has them do different things to prove their worth, sometimes there are a couple of new S-class mages chosen, and sometimes it's only one. It really depends on the trial and the people who are entering." She explained.

"Interesting, maybe that is something worth looking into." He pondered.

* * *

…

On the other side of the room, Gajeel was talking with Juvia.

"-sama is gone now and Juvia feels soo sad! But Juvia trusts him-"_thud"_-now, and she believes he will come back-" _thud _"-because Juvia knows that he wouldn't do that to her. Someday Juvia hopes that—Gajeel-kun, what are you doing?" Her response was a groan.

"Don't you ever shut up about that guy, whatever his name is?" He replied grouchily. Juvia looked offended.

"Gray-sama is a wonderful person who deserves every praise that Juvia gives him. Gray-sama saved Juvia from the rain and for that, Juvia will always love him." She said hotly.

"Alright, alright, don't blow your damn lid." Gajeel growled, ironing his face with his hands.

"What about you? Do you love anyone?" Juvia asked suddenly, with an excited gleam in her eyes.

"Huh? What the hell are you saying woman? No way would I be looking for trouble like that!" Gajeel retorted. Juvia gave a hard stare, before brightening up and smiling.

"Well, what about Levy-san?" She asked slyly.

"Shrimp? You gotta be kidding." Gajeel scoffed, however Juvia was not dissuaded.

"Oh, you have a nickname for her, huh? Gajeel-kun Juvia didn't realize that you cared so much." Juvia teased.

"I only call her that cuz she's so small. I call Natsu Salamander, you Rainwoman, Wendy Kid, and her Shrimp, what's wrong with that?" He asked, annoyed.

"Nothing, just that, the Gajeel-kun that Juvia knows only gives nicknames to those he is super close to." Juvia hummed.

"Dammit woman! Stop getting ideas about nonexistent relationships between people!" Gajeel snarled.

"You don't have to be so snippy, Juvia was just happy that her friend has found someone who can give you the same happiness that Gray-sama gives Juvia." She said reproachfully.

Gajeel groaned and slammed his head into the table again.

* * *

…

By the bar, Laxus was watching his siblings interact with the members of the guild. He was amused to see Sting and Natsu having an eating contest while a group of Fairy Tail members egged them on.

"They're a rowdy bunch, aren't they?" Makarov noted, sidling up next to his grandson.

"Yeah, but I could say the same about your guild." Laxus replied. Makarov chuckled.

"Mmph, that's Fairy Tail." He said fondly. "So where will you be staying tonight?" He asked abruptly. Laxus' good mood evaporated.

"I'm not entirely sure." He confessed.

"No need to fear, you can spend the night in the med-bay with Wendy, and tomorrow you all can take a job to earn some money. We have yet to give you your guild stamps." Makarov glanced at him out of the corner of his eye.

"You would do that?" Laxus asked, shocked.

"Of course, you seven are practically already part of the guild, why not make it official?" Makarov told him. Laxus smiled.

"Thanks, old man." He said sincerely. There was a small silence before Makarov spoke again.

"You know, the Raijinshū should be coming back sometime tomorrow. You should let them know you're here, they never stopped looking." He told Laxus quietly.

"They still call themselves that?" Laxus asked incredulously. Makarov nodded.

"Oh yes, they refused to take any other name, still do." He said in amused tone.

"Ha, damn fools. Always wondered why they called themselves that." Laxus grunted.

"They're in awe of you; let them keep the name if it means so much." Makarov said, sipping at his drink. Laxus shook his head in resignation.

"Yo Laxus! Where are we staying tonight? This moron is unconscious because he tried to hit on that chick with short white hair over there." Natsu dragged a very limp and bruised Sting across the floor, grinning.

"We're staying here, go ahead and put him in the med-bay with Wendy. A few hours and he has already pissed someone off." Laxus shook his head despairingly. Natsu just laughed and hauled Sting to the med-bay.

"Go ahead and find a job for you and your siblings, you can take it tomorrow so that you can quickly get some money to either rent an apartment or buy a house." Makarov told Laxus, pointing to the request board. The blond nodded his thanks and went to look at the myriad of requests. The amount of money offered as rewards for some of the jobs staggered him, who would pay so much money for such simple requests? These people had tons of money to burn. He didn't take into account that since he had been a slave up until a few weeks ago, and was therefore unused to the amounts of money seen, that these were perfectly reasonable sums for the help requested.

"Do you need some help?" Mira asked, coming up to him with a tray of empty mugs.

"I don't really know which one to pick." He confessed. She smiled understandingly.

"That isn't a problem, chose which one you think would suit your team, and think about the interests of those that are coming with you, while keeping in mind the expenses you will have. Then, chose a job with a decent sized pay, and you should be okay. Tomorrow, you can get your guild stamps and you can take the job you chose immediately, I can reserve the one you want so that no one takes it while you're sleeping." She told him.

"Thanks." He said, surprised that she would do so much for him.

"Of course, when you've chosen one find me and I'll put it aside for you." She walked away. He turned and looked at the different requests. Then he found one and he grinned, this would be perfect for his family. He snatched it from the board and brought it over to Mira, who took it and raised her eyebrows. "Is this it?" She asked. He nodded. "Well, if you can handle a job with so many different aspects to it, then I guess it's alright. I'll keep this until you wake up tomorrow." She put it away. He thanked her and was about to leave, when he was approached by five of his brothers.

"Hey, you find a job for us?" Gajeel asked.

"Yeah, I think you all will like it, each of you can do something useful." Laxus told them all. The unspoken words '_for once_' weren't missed.

"So what will we be doing?" Rogue ignored the hidden jibe.

"You'll find out tomorrow, don't worry we should get a decent amount of money from this, we might be able to rent a place for ourselves." Laxus said.

"From one job?" Cobra asked skeptically. Laxus nodded. Natsu shrugged, having come back from putting Sting in the med-bay in time to hear Laxus' announcement.

"Whatever, I don't care; as long as I get to fight something then I'm good." He proclaimed. His brothers rolled their eyes.

"Anyway, I want to get this thing underway quickly tomorrow, so we should go to bed now." He said.

"What about Wendy? Is she well enough to come with us?" Rogue asked, concerned.

"Yeah, if we're all there she should be fine, she won't be doing much action anyways, she'll be using her healing magic mainly. Unless you think that we aren't capable of protecting her, then she'll be safe." Laxus told him. Rogue considered it for a second before agreeing. "Alright, let's go." Laxus led the way into the med-bay where the still forms of two of their siblings were already waiting. "We'll wake up early tomorrow; don't complain unless you feel like eating lightning for breakfast." He told them quietly. Cobra rolled his eyes in defiance, but the others shivered slightly. Natsu however, grinned.

"That shouldn't be a problem for me." He bragged.

"Shut up already, unless you want to wake these two up." Gajeel growled in irritation. Natsu frowned.

"Fine, but only because Wendy is sleeping, I really don't care about Sting, he's a big Dragon Slayer, he can handle it." He said, climbing into one of the beds.

"Whatever." The Iron Dragon Slayer replied, doing the same.

Laxus and the rest followed suit, and soon there was only the sound of deep and even breathing.

The next day would be their first mission, and they were beyond ready.

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**So that is the end of chapter three! I did say it was short...review and tell me what you think, tell me if there are any mistakes, or just things you don't like. Flames are welcome, because they let me know what I can do to improve XD. Also, the poll(ish) for pairings with Rogue and Laxus is still up, if you have told me what you want, don't worry, I know and have put them into a mental account to keep track of who wants which pairing.  
**

**It's either Rogue with Kagura, an OC, Minerva(apparently), or alone. Laxus is either with my OC from Heart Warming Lightning, or by himself (sorry Laxana fans, I'm not entirely comfortable with writting that ship DX).**


	4. Chapter 4: Mission One

**It's here, finally. Thanks for reviewing/following/favoriting. Still figuring out the pairings, thanks for voting. **

**Shout Out: To Pencilfreak 17 who writes better Naruto stories than I could ever hope to.**

**Recap: Makarov is Laxus' grandfather. We learned the amount of time that each Dragon Slayer was a slave, except for Wendy, and Juvia is Gajeel's old friend. The Seven Dragon Slayers join Fairy Tail. Laxus picks a mission for them to go on after Wendy wakes up.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own the Dragon Slayers or any part of Fairy Tail, even though that would be epic.**

**Enjoy!**

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**The Seven Dragoneers Chapter 4: Mission One**

**By: DemonDragonQueen**

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Wendy awoke to the sound of shouting.

"Give it back Salamander!"

"No can do, Metal-Head! This is way too good for you!"

She opened her eyes and saw Gajeel chasing Natsu around the room; the latter was holding a magazine of some kind.

"Shut up! Wendy is still sleeping dumbasses!" Cobra stepped forward and stopped both of them.

"Not anymore." Wendy said dryly, sitting up. She stretched and yawned.

"Idiots!" Cobra hissed, smacking his brother's heads.

"Ah, it's fine Cobra-nii, they have to let out their energy somehow, right?" Wendy commented.

"They can let out energy during the mission, later." Cobra replied, glaring at the two.

"Mission? We're going on a mission?" She asked, moderately surprised. The three immediately nodded, looking united - for once - in their excitement.

"Yeah, Laxus picked one out for us, but he won't tell us what it is." Natsu moaned, clearly frustrated from his brother's lack of response.

"Well, whichever one it is I'm sure that it's good." Wendy replied gaily, happy that they could do something to get money. Perhaps, they could get a house. Or a pet, she had always wanted a dog. Or both, she really didn't care, she was just happy now.

She hadn't even realized that she had been humming until Natsu poked her.

"What're you humming Wendy?" He asked curiously. Wendy halted.

"Oh...um...just something I picked up from some of the older slaves, y'know, before I met you guys." She said, bravely attempting to smile. Her brother's expressions instantly became grim. They knew that she had been ill-treated before the seven of them had met, and they hated that she had the scars as a reminder of the times before she had been protected. When Wendy had first met them all, she had been an emotionless, empty, distant, and scared little girl who expected pain from anyone who interacted with her. They hated that she had had to go through that, but the only thing they could do now was to try and give her as many _good _memories as possible.

"Anyway—" Wendy cleared her throat and managed to brighten up her expression a little, "—where are the others?" She asked. Her brothers realized that she was trying to cheer them up, so they smiled and humored her.

"Well...Laxus is getting some stuff together for the trip, and Rogue and Sting should have just finished getting their Guild Stamps." Natsu replied. Wendy's mouth fell open.

"Guild Stamps?" She repeated blankly.

"Oh! Yeah, you haven't gotten yours either! Look, here is mine!" Natsu grinned and revealed a bright red Guild Mark. "Gajeel, Cobra, and Laxus all have one too!" Natsu ran over, grabbed her by the arm, and pulled her out of bed. He would have dragged her out the door, but an iron rod rammed itself into his head, forcing him to let go of Wendy so that he could stay standing.

"What the hell?!" He yelped, clutching his head and swinging around to stare at Gajeel. The Iron Dragon Slayer scowled at him in response to his glare.

"Idiot. Don't go draggin' Wendy out of bed when she's just woken up." Gajeel snapped irritably. Natsu just glared even more fiercely. Wendy glanced at the two of them halfway between exasperation and worry. Cobra solved the problem by stepping forward and - taking hold of both of their heads - ramming their foreheads together.

"Dumb ones, you're making Wendy worry, so shut your traps and quit glaring at each other. You can bitch about whatever the hell you want to when she isn't around to hear it, clear?" He demanded in a flat tone. Gajeel and Natsu nodded as soon as he released their heads, and they had the good grace to give Wendy abashed looks and silent pleads for forgiveness, which she granted with a radiant smile. She directed a gratuitous thought towards Cobra as she made her way past her brothers and in the direction of the door out.

They followed, growling and glaring at each other as they did so, only stopping when she turned around and gave them a pointed look. They stopped immediately. She smiled again and continued on her way, until they were in the middle of a very rowdy guildhall.

"Wendy!" She turned around to see Sting running towards her with Rogue following at a more dignified and slow pace. "Look! Isn't this cool?" He showed her a white Fairy Tail Guild Mark on his left shoulder, while Rogue showed her a Fairy Tail Mark on his left shoulder as well.

"Wow, these are nice." Wendy commented enviously. Her brothers seemed to pick up on her longing, for they grinned simultaneously.

"Yeah, now let's go get you one!" Sting shouted. He picked her up and slung her over his shoulder, and then he proceeded to march towards where Mira was waiting with a smile.

"Sting-niiii!" Wendy shrieked in embarrassment. Rogue sighed and followed, while the other three grinned and waved as she was forcibly taken to Mira. By the time they got there, Wendy's face was bright red and her mouth had formed a slight pout; halfway there, she had given up trying to get down, so she had crossed her arms and vowed to get revenge at a later point in time.

"Here we are Mira-san, now Wendy, that wasn't so bad, was it?" Sting asked, setting her down gently on the floor. She let a huff escape her lips, and she looked at him with a dangerous gleam in her eyes. He instinctively backed up, the look was mischievous, and it promised painful retribution by way of intense embarrassment.

"Sure, Sting-nii." She answered in a sickly sweet voice that made her brothers cringe. "I'll be sure to _thank _you later." Sting shook his head.

"T-that won't be necessary." He protested, pleading for forgiveness. She gave him a look of mock incredulity.

"But Sting-nii, I insist! You should be rewarded for this." She told him firmly, to everyone listening, 'rewarded' sounded a lot like 'punished'. Mira decided to step in, aware of the shaking Sting who had gone quite white, and of the still-smiling-sweetly Wendy, who had a dangerous aura around her that was in complete contrast to her face.

"Anyway, Wendy, where would you like your Mark, and what color?" She asked. Wendy turned to her and the aura died down, causing her brothers to sigh in relief. That's right, 'brothers', plural. Although Rogue didn't show his slight fear when Wendy had had a threatening aura, he was relieved when she had calmed down.

"Well, I'd like blue on my right shoulder, please." Wendy answered politely, her usual persona coming back. Mira smiled and got out the appropriate stamp, before placing it on the corresponding shoulder and watching it light up.

"And, you're officially a member of the guild! Welcome to Fairy Tail!" Mira's smile was matched by Wendy's, and the people watch cheered.

"Oi! We've got to get going; otherwise the train is going to leave without us!" Laxus interrupted, coming through the front doors carrying several bags.

"Laxus-nii! Look! Look!" Wendy cried excitedly, running up to him and proudly showing off her new mark. He smiled at her.

"Nice! I take it that everyone else has one as well?" He asked. She nodded.

"Where'd you get the money for those, and what do you mean by 'train'?" Cobra came up behind them, followed by the other four brothers.

"Gramps lent me some money, saying we could pay him back as soon as we had bought somewhere to live, and we are taking a train to get to our mission location." Laxus answered. All of the Dragon Slayer's faces - except for Wendy's - paled.

"Yo-No way in hell!" Gajeel exclaimed.

"I'm NOT riding one of those things!" Natsu added.

"It's the only way to get there, unless you want to walk." Laxus said shortly.

"_Please_? I'll cast Troia on you!" Wendy added. Her brothers hesitated. With Troia, the journey wouldn't be that bad at all, actually.

"On the way back too?" Sting butted in. Wendy nodded immediately.

"Of course!" She beamed as they reluctantly submitted.

"Great. Now, we really should go." Laxus said, gesturing to the doors.

"Hold on. What's the mission?" Rogue asked, narrowing his eyes.

"No time. I'll tell you on the train." Laxus shook his head. Wendy could tell Cobra was trying to read Laxus' thoughts, but the Lightning Dragon Slayer stubbornly emptied his mind of all things pertaining to the mission, besides the fact that they needed to catch the train.

"Gah! Let's go then." Gajeel grumbled. All five of the other brothers each took a bag and followed Laxus out the door, with Sting bringing up the rear. Wendy thought they must have made an interesting group to look at. Seven people who were all dressed quite differently, six men with one young girl, and all of them were carrying a backpack - with exception to Wendy. An interesting group indeed.

They reached the train station several minutes later, where Wendy dutifully cast Troia on all six of them - she didn't need it - before they got on. It was something of a novel experience for all of them. None of them had been on a train that looked so - well - _nice _before. Trains were the standard transport for slaves in Bosco, besides magic, so being on one that _wasn't _dirty, smelly, or crowded with people who looked worse than the train was more than a little fascinating.

It would take them three hours to get to their destination, according to Laxus, where they would then walk a mile or so until they reached a different town that didn't have access to a railroad.

There, they would meet up with the client - the mayor - and they would be checked to make sure they were suitable for performing the numerous jobs. Apparently, the town had been recently attacked by a large group of rogue mages, and they had been saved by another guild, but the damages were high, thus this job.

Gajeel would help by clearing trees from the surrounding forest for lumber, and then he would aid in the reconstruction of certain objects made of metal.

Laxus would charge lightning lacrima with his magic, thus providing the entire town with lights to aid in construction during the night time. His lightning would also provide power to whatever the townspeople needed to charge.

Natsu would clear out tons of wooden debris by burning the leftover damaged buildings, and them eating the fires, so that the townspeople could build new buildings in their places.

Sting was to go with Rogue when search parties went out, looking for missing children, animals, or other citizens who had run away during the attack. Sting would provide light, and Rogue would provide backup protection by staying hidden in the shadows while the search parties worked.

Wendy and Cobra would be working in the hospital. Wendy would obviously be using her magic to heal injuries and wounds, but Cobra was needed when she had to literally draw out sicknesses from wounds that had festered or had become infected somehow. He would eat the sickness, therefore removing any chance that it would spread through the air.

They came to the town after a mile-and-a-half walk, and they stopped. Honestly, Wendy hadn't seen such destruction before, and it shocked her. Weren't mages supposed to be good in this country? Yet here was a small town, a third obliterated completely, a third scorched, and a third falling apart. No area had been spared, which made her worry if she and her brothers were up to the job - no, scratch that - if _she _in particular was up to the job. If the _town _was this bad, then how were the inhabitants?

She swallowed back nausea at the thought of healing so many potentially wounded, and she followed her brothers to the mayor's house, which hadn't been left untouched. The mayor greeted them, checked their marks to make sure they were legit, and sent them off immediately with different supervisors and guides.

Wendy didn't have time to say goodbye to her other brothers, so she and Cobra followed their guide - a stern man with gray hair and glasses - to the large hospital. If she had to guess, based on outside appearances, this had been partially damaged, and then had been quickly rebuilt based on the needs of the wounded. It looked like a mess on the outside, roof tiles were falling off, scorch marks littered it's walls, windows were shattered or cracked, small chunks of the walls were missing, the front door didn't even exist. All in all, it looked like hell. Not the best place for injured people.

As if guessing her thinking, their guide began to explain.

"After the bandits had attacked, this building - which used to be an apartment complex - was one of the only ones left that could be repaired quickly for the wounded. It's just temporary, with your group's help; we hope to get another - more suitable - place for the injured." He told them, walking up to where the front door _should _have been. Wendy would have liked to tell him that the building was much more temporary than he believed - given that it would probably collapse under too much strain - but the sight _inside _the building was a whole lot worse. If the _outside _was hell, than the _inside _was something indescribable. Sickness, body odor, bodily fluids, and a whole bunch of other unpleasant smells assaulted her as soon as she stepped inside.

Sometimes Dragon Slayer senses weren't so welcome, and this was _definitely _one of those times. She heard Cobra swear as he took it in as well. Even if he ate poisons and spewed viruses, smelling it was something entirely different. People were everywhere, lying sprawled on thin blankets, thrashing on the floor, or just lying ominously still. About a dozen healthy people with masks and gloves rushed around, trying to meet the needs of the many sick and injured.

Wendy felt queasy; _this _was what she had to work with? This building had three floors, and according to their guide, each one was as full as the first floor was.

"H-how many are there? And why are they on the floor?" She managed to ask.

Her guide hesitated. "I'm not sure, we keep getting reports of more people as the days go on, the search parties always bring back injured. The last count was over a hundred. As for why they're on the floor, well, we didn't have much of an option. Most of the furniture was either destroyed or is being used for other purposes at the moment." He answered. Wendy's legs might have given out, if she wasn't standing in front of their guide.

Over a hundred? No beds? Her job just became ten times harder. She dimly heard Cobra asking when the last count had happened.

Yesterday was the answer. Dread crept over her, making her stomach twist unpleasantly. There were sure to be more now, how was she supposed to heal _all _of these people? She really wanted to laugh. A medical Dragon Slayer, a slave for years, and she was most likely going to be unable to help all of these people.

"Hey." It was her older brother. He obviously knew what was going through her mind. He turned her around gently, and she could only imagine what he was seeing. "Don't worry; you're going to do this. Not all of healing is about magic, right? You've studied herbs and stuff, you're the best one for the job, so don't worry about it." He told her.

"W-what if someone dies?" She whispered. He shrugged.

"Then they die, you did your best, but not everyone lives - you should know that. Yeah, they died - yeah, it sucks - but you have a job to do, so do it." He ordered firmly. She felt her unease die away, and she smiled at him. He was right, of course, she had a job to do, and she would damn well do it to the best of her abilities.

"Right, Guide-san, please take me to those who are the most injured or sick first. The ones who are in danger of not making it through the night. The others can wait, unless they take a turn for the worse, I only want to see those who are the worst off." Wendy turned to their guide with a determined gleam in her eyes. Had she imagined an approving look in his expression? She would never know, for he turned and led her to those she had instructed him to.

The first one was a burn victim. He had burns all over his body, and he was running a high fever as well as infection in several areas of his body. She briefly met with the person in charge, who instructed several helpers to stay behind to aide in case she needed anything, before turning to the injured man. She had her aides take off the bandages of the infected parts, swallowed down the bile that rose when she saw the injuries, and she nodded at Cobra to prepare.

She took a deep breath and started her magic.

Infection slid out, trying desperately to remain inside by hooking tendrils in the man's flesh, but she prevailed and watched it get eaten by her brother.

She then had her aides prepare several solutions for the less life-threatening burns, as well as something for the man's fever. She healed the ones that could kill him, and she moved on. Long ago, she had learned that it wasn't realistic or logical to completely heal an injured person when there were many others who were waiting. It simply wasn't possible.

So, she had taught herself to ignore the less major injuries, and to only focus on the ones that could kill a person. She couldn't afford to spend all of her magic energy on the first few dozen people she came across, which is another reason she had turned to non-magic cures for things that didn't absolutely _require _magic.

If something could be healed by time and an herb, then she wouldn't use magic for it. She wasn't being stingy with her magic, far from it, but she _was _using it wisely.

The next few hours passed in a blur, people came and went, faces and injuries flashed before her eyes, and weariness became something she was used to. She replenished her magic when she had the chance, by stepping outside to grab a few bites of oxygen, but her breaks were few and far between. There were simply too many people. Her brothers came to check on her, but usually left immediately, seeing that she was busy and had no time for visitors.

By midnight, she was three-fourths done the first floor, and had told Cobra to go rest. He protested, but had obeyed upon looking at the expression on her face. She was too tired to argue, and had told him so in her mind. He hadn't wanted to weary her any further, nor take up anymore time by arguing, so he had gone - albeit reluctantly.

The next morning was upon her before she knew it, and she hadn't gotten a wink of sleep. There had been more injured brought in from the search parties, and she had had to attend to those whom they had found, who had been battling infection, injuries, and a number of other things. She had finally made it to the second floor by around five o'clock, and was so focused on her work that she didn't notice Cobra coming up behind her.

"Hey." He said. She jumped and looked behind her.

"Oh, it's just you." She sighed. He peered at her face.

"Have you gotten any sleep? You look like hell." He demanded. She squirmed guiltily under his gaze and didn't answer. He sighed. "How are you supposed to help these people if you collapse?"

She shook her head. "I'll be fine; I stepped out a little while ago to get some oxygen." She defended herself.

"At what time?" He asked.

"Um...four?" She tilted her head. He sighed again.

"Wendy, that was six hours ago."

"What?" Her eyes widened. It couldn't be! "No! That's not right, I just stepped out…" Her voice died off as he gave her a hard look.

"Wendy, go look outside." He commanded; going to one of the shuttered window spaces was. He lifted it, and she blinked at the sudden light.

"Huh?" Her exhausted brain was trying to come to grips with the sudden time change.

"You need sleep." Cobra said sternly. She shook her head, and then immediately made a mental note to _not _do so again.

"I can't! These people need my help, and I can't just do that!" She protested, unaware that she was swaying on her feet. Cobra noticed, however, and sighed. He came over and picked her up in a princess-hold. "W-what are you doing?" She exclaimed.

"You need sleep, even if it's just a few hours. These people won't die without your help as there are a few dozen others who can help them. I'm sure that your advice has helped them a lot, so you don't need to be here twenty-four-seven." He said firmly, walking down the stairs, shaking off the helper's questions, and exiting the building. He took her to the small lodge where they had been allowed to stay, and he laid her down on the bed. "Sleep, I'll wake you up at three."

"Cobra-nii! That's too long! I don't need six...hours...of…" Her eyes closed and she stopped talking. He shook his head and sat down beside her.

…

* * *

Sting trudged alongside five other men, looking for a couple of lost kids. He was _extremely _tired - alternating between running and walking for six hours would do that to a person. Also, using magic for several hours in the morning non-stop, after having used it for six or seven the previous night really wore a person down. He wasn't complaining, not really, he had seen what some of his siblings had had to do and wasn't envious. Wendy, for example, made his job look like a walk in the park, but he was still tired. Rogue was another who made his mental complaints seem petty, having to use his magic constantly _while _traveling must've been a pain in the ass.

Still, complaining made it easier, but nothing was said aloud. He picked up the shirt again, and raised his nose in the air. The first time he had done that, he had gotten weird looks and more than a few snickers, now though, everyone was used to it. Besides, he _had _found the people they were looking for, though he felt a little guilty when he had dropped them off at the hospital and had seen Wendy's weary look intensify. She was the best one for the job out of all of them though, he knew _he _sure as hell couldn't heal anything that required more than a bandage, and sometimes even then.

His musings were cut short as the scent grew stronger. The children were close. His conclusion was only supported when he heard the sound of whimpers coming from a cluster of trees. Damn, the town's destruction had been about a week ago, and they _still _hadn't found everyone yet.

"Over here!" He called to the group with him. They followed and soon found the objects of their search, huddled against a tree, hugging and crying. To Sting's somewhat selfish relief, they didn't look too injured, just hungry and thirsty. For one, he didn't relish in the idea of having to deal with whimpering children all the way back to the town - cold hearted maybe, but he was _tired_ \- and secondly, his sister didn't need any more patients. She had looked more exhausted than he had thought possible when he had visited her the previous night. He wasn't sure whether she had gotten any sleep; he hadn't heard her come into the room when he had finally gotten to sleep himself.

He shrugged, he would find out when they returned. The group gathered up the children, and headed towards the town. Maybe he could get something to eat.

...

* * *

Rogue watched over his group with a keen eye. Something was nagging at him. When the mayor had told them of the situation, and how not every rogue mage had been caught, he had shrugged it off. Who would come back to a trashed - let's face it, it's the truth - town when the majority of their numbers were gone? Now though, he wondered. They had been finding signs of recent camps. While that would have been good, none of the people they had found who belonged to the village could have made the camps. Either they were too injured, too young, or just didn't seem like the survival type.

Also, the camps had had traces of magical energy around them, he hadn't told anyone as they were too wrapped up with their own jobs and/or issues, but now he thought he might. Just in case.

He hated the idea that there might be more mages around to attack the town, because the citizens and the town itself didn't look like it could take much more. Neither did his siblings, for that matter.

He was tired thanks to using his magic constantly, Sting was weary from having to walk around and deal with wild animals and such, Gajeel had cleared enough trees to build a fortress out of wood, Laxus had charged enough lacrima to power Magnolia, Natsu was only halfway through the town's debris, and Wendy was probably the most exhausted out of them all.

Only Cobra wasn't too tired, thanks to the fact that he only had to aide Wendy a little and eat poison all day long, but the constant work and the thoughts from all of the sick and injured probably wore him out a lot mentally.

All in all, if they were attacked by a large group of murderous mages hell-bent on revenge and destruction, they were all probably royally fucked.

…

* * *

Gajeel watched in satisfaction as the last tree went down. Good. He had begun to hate the damn things with a passion. Seeing them all around him for nearly two days straight had worn him out. A townsperson beckoned him over, and he went, not bothering to hide the scowl on his face.

"What now?" He asked in a surly tone.

"Y-you're needed." The frightened man stuttered. Gajeel sighed impatiently.

"Where?" He asked with exaggerated patient. He was directed to where a building was under construction. He lumbered over.

"Good, you here. Perhaps you can help? The workers here don't have the experience or knowledge to fix this." Another person came over, un-intimidated by Gajeel's expression. The Iron Dragon Slayer growled. He was sure none of his other siblings had to deal with incompetent morons.

…

* * *

"NO! Don't give him _that _one! I told you it was the green one!" Wendy exclaimed, just in time to prevent a patient from getting the wrong medicine. The aide sheepishly put down a dropper of yellow liquid, and reached for a murky green one instead. The bluenette shook her head in exasperation, before turning to her own patient. "Can I have the report on this patient please?" She asked no one in particular. A paper was pushed into her open hand. "_Thank _you." She muttered, scanning the paper.

"Okay, you! Go get a cup of boiling water, quickly!" She ordered a nearby helper, who scampered off immediately. They'd learned on the first day to obey the younger girl immediately. Not only did she know what she was doing, but she was rather frightening when angry, as the first insubordinate person had learned when they had ignored her order. Wendy grabbed a roll of gauze and proceeded to wrap the person's injured wrist.

"You'll be fine, your wrist is just sprained and you have a fever, hardly life-threatening. I just sent someone to get some water for some tea to help with the fever. Sit still and I'll come back to you. If you feel any worse, call someone over and tell them what's wrong, I'll get to you when I can." Wendy ordered, before moving on to the next person. While she was reluctant to admit it, the six hours of sleep that Cobra had forced her to have had done wonders, she was thinking more clearly and her movements weren't as sluggish.

"Wendy-san! We have a patient who was just delivered and who requires immediate attention!" An aide jogged over, careful of the people on the floor. She sighed. After leaving careful instructions with another helper, she went with the aide to see the newest patient.

A man with an enormous gash on his left leg, and a large scratch across his chest was struggling against several other helpers, who were trying to get him to calm down.

Wendy immediately grabbed a needle from a side table, filled it with a sedative, and injected it into the man's vein as someone held it down. After a few minutes, his struggles ceased and he fell into a light slumber.

"Alright, report." She said wearily to one of the aides.

"Er...large laceration on his left leg and lower back, possible concussion, sprained right ankle, shallow scratch across his chest. No infections that we know of, but we haven't had a chance to look too closely."

Wendy nodded.

"Alright, get me a tub of warm water, a washcloth, some soap, a large roll of gauze, another shirt his size, a pair of pants his size, a needle and thread, something I can splint his ankle with, and something used for tying - a belt or a piece of rope would work fine." She quickly listed the items she would need, and they all ran off to get them. She turned to the assistant beside her.

"Where are the beds that were promised to us?" She asked. "We could really use one right about now." The assistant avoided her eyes.

"Not here." She replied.

"Excuse me? What do you mean 'not here'?" Wendy demanded.

"I-I don't know the exact reason, but the beds are being given to the citizens who are healthy." She answered. Wendy growled and turned around as supplies were handed to her. She grabbed the tub of water, the washcloth, and the soap. She then proceeded to start cleaning the areas around the man's leg wound; she had learned long ago that leaving unclean skin around an open wound was just _asking _for infection.

"Get me Ken. _Now_." She ordered curtly, and heard the shuffling of feet as the woman beside her scrambled to obey her. Normally, she wasn't like this, normally she was patient and polite. Being cooped up in a building riddled with sick people threw 'normal' out the window.

"You needed me?" Wendy looked up to see skinny man with round glasses peering fearfully down at her. "Did I do something wrong?" He asked.

"No. I need you to tell the mayor something for me, tell him it's a message from me, alright?" Wendy went back to cleaning around the wound.

"Sure." He sounded relieved.

"Tell the mayor that we need beds in here, not just blankets. His healthy people can wait, unless he wants to lose an eighth of his small population, he'll hold off on giving the healthy citizens furniture until we have enough in here. Got it?" She heard him shuffle away. She moved on to the unconscious man's chest, and then to his head.

She sighed as she began to clean out the leg wound with water. This was going to be another long day. **(1)**

…

* * *

As it turned out, there _was _a small group of rogue mages that had been plotting to attack the town with revenge in mind. Rogue had made sure that his group was okay to go off on their own, and then he had proceeded to track the enemy mages. He had caught their scent in one of the campsites he had found, and he had followed it until he came across the group.

Fortunately, the group wasn't that big, ten or so people. They weren't that high a level, so disposing of them had been easy. He hadn't killed them in favor of knocking them out and tying them to separate trees, and he had barely gotten scratched. It had been easier than he had thought it would be, and he was finding himself glad. He was in no shape for a serious fight. A roar and stealth were all he had needed to take them out. Now, all he had to do was get some people to take them to the council where they would be incarcerated. All in a day's work.

…

* * *

Wendy nearly fell over from exhaustion. The week in the damaged town had been _exhausting_ for her and her brothers. Unlike her brothers, however, she hadn't gotten a decent night's sleep at all during the week. Only snippets here and there that were enforced by Cobra had kept her going. Now, they could finally go back to Magnolia with the two million jewel they had earned. She could hardly believe it was over. She didn't listen as the mayor prattled on about heroes and other unimportant things. She would be grateful later, she was sure, but at the moment she just _really _wanted sleep.

She could feel her brothers' impatience, they wanted to leave too. She focused on standing up, and _not _collapsing, which would be totally lame. All week she had had energy, and she _refused _to fall down now. She could wait. Maybe.

Finally, the mayor sent them off, she wondered if she could make the mile-and-a-half walk back to the train station. Someone lifted her up onto their shoulders without a word. Maybe she wouldn't have to after all. She smiled drowsily as she saw a shock of familiar yellow hair. Aw, he was so sweet sometimes. Maybe he could read minds, like Cobra could. Then she giggled; now she was just being silly. Delirious probably, from sleep loss. And, she had just gotten over an illness herself, so having not slept enough the past week most likely wasn't doing wonders for her body. Oh well.

After an immeasurable amount of time, she was placed gently on a soft surface, and the sound of a train roaring filled her ears. She leaned against the closest soft surface - which may or may not have been one of her brother's sides, and she fell asleep.

…

* * *

She was awoken three hours later when someone gently shook her awake.

"Come on kid, we've got to go." Gajeel said gruffly. She opened her eyes and saw that it had been him whom she had been leaning on.

"Alright. I'm coming." She yawned and stood up. Gajeel herded her out of the train, where they met the other five siblings, and they journeyed back to the guild - only to have three loud screams meet them.

"LAXUS!"

"LAXUS IS HERE!"

"LAXUUUUS!"

Three blurs tackled the blond - and did Wendy hear sobbing?

"What the hell?" Laxus groaned, looking down to see two men and a woman attached to him.

"Who are they?" Wendy asked curiously.

"The Raijinshu have missed you, Laxus." Master Makarov called from the bar, his eyes twinkling with amusement.

"I noticed." Laxus replied dryly. He shoved them off and stood up. "C'mon guys, how old are you now?" He asked, but the corners of his mouth were twitching.

"Ahem. Sorry." One of the men cleared his throat, and he brushed his green hair away from his face. He turned to the group behind Laxus. "My name is Freed. The woman is Evergreen, and the man with the he is Bickslow. Together, we are the Raijinshū ." He pointed out the woman with glasses and the man with a helmet.

"Er...nice to meet you." Wendy tried not to make it sound like a question. The others looked at Freed and company as if he had a disease that was contagious. Wendy elbowed the one closest to her in the ribs. "Be polite." She hissed. Natsu grinned.

"So what are your magics?" He asked. Wendy resisted the urge to face-palm - Sting had no such qualms.

"Idiot." Gajeel muttered. Rogue just rolled his eyes while Cobra shifted his look to Natsu.

Freed's answer was interrupted by an enormous yawn from both Wendy and Sting.

"Erm, sorry. We just got back from a tiring mission." Wendy muttered, embarrassed.

"No, the fault is ours, we knew you were out on a mission, please - go rest." Freed replied courteously. Wendy and her brothers - Laxus excluded - went to find a table; they weren't ready to go to sleep yet.

As she watched Laxus interact with the Raijinshū with barely concealed amusement, she smiled.

Her family just kept getting bigger.

* * *

**Sorry I'm late. Thanks for reading! See you next chapter, maybe with the pairings. The poll still stands.  
**

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**(1) Notice that Cobra wasn't in this section. That would be because he would have no real reason to be there, as Wendy has already taken care of those with the more serious infections/diseases.  
**

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**Guest Reviews:**

**Guest: I don't know if I'll have OCs, I'll let you all know as soon as I figure it out!**

**foofung: Yeah, that was my plan, because Wendy rocks! XD**

**blurryface: Thanks! And the Raijinshu is back, as asked for. You'll see more of them next chapter.**

**That's all, thanks so much for reviewing!**


	5. Chapter 5: Allies and Enemies

**I'm back! After... over five months without updating... DX please don't kill me? Anyway, here is another one, hope you enjoy. Sorry it's short, but it's a set up for a much more exciting chapter that will hopefully arrive sooner! Thanks for voting! I'll get back to you on that soon! BTW, check my profile for updates! It will be at the bottom, before my stories and after all the 'Copy and Paste' stuff. Thanks for all the awesome reviews!**

**Shout Out: Pencilfreak 17 gets another shout out! Check her out because she updated a little while back!**

**Recap: First mission happened last time, not much action, though Wendy put her healing to good use. Good news, the Raijinshū are back and they missed Laxus! (lol)**

**Disclaimer: Nope. Don't own it, never will. I'm gonna go cry now...**

* * *

**The Seven Dragoneers Chapter 5: Allies and Enemies**

**By: DemonDragonQueen**

* * *

"So, what was Laxus-nii like when he was younger?"

Evergreen looked startled at the question posed by Wendy.

"Why?" She asked. Wendy shrugged.

"I don't know, he was always so tough when we were together, I was just wondering what he was like as a child." She replied. Evergreen pursed her lips thoughtfully.

"Well, he was nice enough, I guess. He was a little grumpy sometimes, but he was kind deep down. He didn't like to act like he cared, but he did, and everyone knew it. I think that some of that attitude had to do with his father, Ivan." She began. Wendy scowled, she had heard about Ivan before. Evergreen chuckled.

"Yes, I see you've heard of him before?" She arched an eyebrow. Wendy nodded, though her scowl remained on her face.

"Yeah. He implanted Laxus-nii's lacrima when he was a child. What father would do that to his own child?" She muttered. Evergreen sniffed.

"A horrible one. Ivan was - is - only concerned with power. Since Dragon Slayers are supposed to be incredibly strong, it makes sense in a sick way that he wanted his son to be one, even if it was an unnatural operation." She said dully. "Master didn't say anything, but I think losing Laxus because his father was a bastard hit him really hard. I mean, he knew that Ivan was bad, but I don't think he realized just how evil he was until news reached him that Laxus had been lost to slavers."

"That's not his fault. I mean, it would be hard to believe that your own son is evil, wouldn't it?" Wendy objected, feeling the need to defend the kindly old man she barely knew.

"I'm not blaming him; I'm just stating the facts." Evergreen said flatly. "Signs pointing to Ivan being a royal bastard had shown up long before Laxus was lost, but Master Makarov chose not to see them. One of the important ones caused Ivan to have to leave the guild. I know Master Makarov tried to spend as much time with Laxus as possible, but he's a busy man, running a guild takes up a lot of time and energy. Especially one like Fairy Tail. Then there's the fact that the Sub-guilds sometimes like to cause trouble too." Wendy frowned in confusion.

"Sub-guilds?" She asked.

"There are several types of guilds. One is a Main Guild like us, another called Lamia Scale, and Blue Pegasus. Then, there are Dark Guilds like Tartarus and Succubus Eye, which operate outside of the law in order to perform dark magic and the like. Sub-guilds can be either dark or light, but they aren't as big as Main Guilds, and they usually answer to a guild. We have Sabertooth and Mermaid Heel working for us. Unofficially, an Independent Guild called Crime Sorciére also works for us, but it isn't really a legal alliance." Evergreen explained.

"Okay, what's an Independent Guild, and what's the advantage of having Sub-guilds?" Wendy questioned.

"Independent Guilds are ones that also work outside of the law, and haven't gotten the approval of the Council to be an actual guild. While they are technically breaking the law, it has its advantages. Independent Guilds don't have to work with all the restrictions that legal guilds do. They can break a few laws here and there since they're being together is already against the rules. But, they can also be arrested, so they usually have to move around a lot.

'Sub-guilds have to sign a contract with a Main Guild in order to work with them. They can be called upon to aid in a guild war, if the Main Guild they're under goes against another. They share requests with the Main Guild, like if a request has been sitting in their hall for a while, then they give it to the Main Guild and vice versa. They are protected by the Main Guild, so if they are attacked by a Dark Guild or something, then the Main Guild will retaliate on behalf of the sub-guild." Evergreen said patiently. Wendy pondered this for a few minutes.

"Then, do Main Guilds have alliances with each other?" She eventually asked.

Evergreen nodded. "Yes. It's basically the same arrangement, except instead of one Main Guild taking another's orders; it's more of a mutual friendship. They collaborate instead of commanding each other to do something. In fact, Fairy Tail is in an alliance with Blue Pegasus and Lamia Scale. So, since they're in an alliance, all the Main Guilds and Sub-guilds are linked in a way. For instance, if a sub-guild of Lamia Scale were attacked, then Fairy Tail would help with the retaliation. And if Fairy Tail went to war, then Lamia Scale's and Blue Pegasus' sub-guilds would aid in the war effort."

"Hm. That's complicated." Wendy mused. "Do all guilds have Guild Masters then? Like the sub-guilds too?"

"Of course. For instance, the Guild Master of Sabertooth is Minerva Orlando, and she follows any orders Makarov gives her whether it be regarding missions or political moves. She doesn't mind either, I think she knows that she isn't ready for the big leagues yet, she is comfortable with being in charge of a smaller guild, which is a good thing. Sometimes sub-guilds are resentful because they aren't recognized as large and powerful guilds.

'There was a sub-guild a couple years ago called Phantom Lord, who rebelled and tried to forcefully become a Main Guild by declaring war on Fairy Tail. Not only is that not legal, but it's also incredibly stupid. Fairy Tail has a good reputation and strong allies and mages, so trying to take us on first thing is suicidal. Part of it, I think, is that the Guild Master Jose was envious of Master Makarov because they were both Wizards Saints, but Jose was only the Guild Master of a sub-guild.

'Anyway, there was a very brief war, ignited by the attack on our guildhall and a few of our members." Evergreen said. Wendy gasped.

"On your members? Were they okay?" She asked, horrified.

"Oh yes. It takes much more than a few hits to take us down. You know who Levy is, right? Well, she and two others were the targets. They were wounded, but it wasn't life-threatening. Before that, Phantom Lord trashed our guildhall, but it wasn't until the attack on those three that Master Makarov acted. Anyone who attacks any of our members intentionally automatically declares war on us and vice versa.

'Freed, Bickslow, and I weren't here, but from the reports from everyone, we totally beat them. We didn't even need help from our allies or sub-guilds, despite the fact that Minerva and them were eager to help avenge the victims. You know, Juvia over there was once a member of Phantom Lord." Evergreen casually slipped in, causing Wendy to choke on her juice.

"_What_?" She demanded, wiping her face with a napkin.

"Yes, in fact, she was one of their elite 'Element Four'. I'll let you work out what kind of magic types they had. Now, Juvia was only following orders because Jose had taken her in when she was living on the streets, so her loyalty outweighed her conscience. But, a battle against Gray was all she needed to switch mindsets and she asked to join soon after the battle had happened." Evergreen nodded. Wendy gave her a look of disbelief.

"How would a battle change her mind?" She questioned. Evergreen shrugged.

"I don't know, but Juvia is in love with Gray, so maybe that had to do with it." She suggested.

"So, what kind of magic does Juvia-san have?" Wendy asked curiously.

"She is a Water Mage, and a rather powerful one at that. Her magic is closely linked to her emotions, so if someone makes her mad, then they will get beaten with boiling hot water. I've seen it before, it isn't pretty." Evergreen smirked as Wendy paled slightly. "Don't worry though; she wouldn't hurt anyone from the guild, not seriously anyway. Just, don't fall in love with Gray and you won't have any problems. You're too young to be counted as a love rival anyway."

"Love rival?" Wendy questioned, not sure she had heard right.

"Oh yes, Juvia is rather possessive of Gray, and thinks any woman who comes near him will try to steal him away. Just ask Lucy." Evergreen nodded sagely. Wendy decided not to question it.

"Thanks for the information and advice, Evergreen-san!" She said happily. "I'm glad I asked about Laxus-nii, for as long as I've known him, he's only ever been bossy, nice, and tough." She giggled. Evergreen raised an eyebrow.

"Oh? Care to tell me a little more about him?" She asked, leaning in a little closer. Wendy nodded excitedly.

"Sure!" She agreed. "So, he was makes sure everyone else is okay before himself, even if he is worse off. He tells everyone what to do, which causes him and Cobra-nii to fight all the time. He works really hard and he always tries to protect me from everything, even if it's just a bug or something. He acts all tough around my other brothers, but he can be really nice and sweet and - mmph!" Wendy was cut off as a large hand clapped over her mouth. She looked up and saw the subject of their conversation frowning down at her.

"What're you rambling on about now?" He asked.

"Don't stop her, she was just getting to the good part." Evergreen teased.

"Good part about what?" Natsu ventured over with Cobra and Sting.

"Well, Wendy was just telling me how nice and sweet Laxus can be." Evergreen informed them, ignoring Laxus' death glare. Wendy managed to pry his hand off of her mouth.

"Yup! He's like a bear, he seems deadly and tough on the outside, but on the inside he's soft and caring." She declared. Natsu erupted into a fit of laughs while Cobra snorted in amusement. Evergreen started coughing suspiciously while Wendy smiled innocently at her older brother, who looked immensely displeased.

"So what you're saying is, Laxus is more like a teddy bear than a grizzly bear." Evergreen choked. Wendy nodded cheerfully while Natsu balanced himself on Cobra's shoulder to keep himself from falling to the floor. Cobra laughed out loud and Laxus flushed from embarrassment.

"What's with the racket over here?" Gajeel growled as he and Rouge took in the sight of Natsu nearly falling to the floor, Evergreen coughing while hiding a smile, Cobra laughing his head off, Wendy smiling innocently with a hint of mischievousness in her eyes, and finally the very pink Laxus.

"Teddy ... bear... Laxus!" Natsu gasped, before finally weakening at the knees so much that he fell to the floor, where he proceeded to roll around holding his stomach.

"What the hell?" Gajeel asked blankly.

"What have you been drinking?" Rogue asked raising his eyebrow.

"He isn't drunk, Rogue-nii, he's just amused because I was pointing out Laxus-nii's finer qualities." Wendy explained. Laxus shot her a glare, and clearly thought something funny for Cobra laughed even harder.

"Oh yeah? Like what?" Sting draped an arm on Rouge's shoulder as he glanced at Natsu, who was giggling weakly on the floor.

"What the hell did I do to deserve this?" Laxus grumbled, turning even pinker as Wendy happily proclaimed Laxus' apparent positive attributes. By the time she was done, Laxus was flaming and fuming, Evergreen was sprawled across the table, Sting had joined Natsu on the floor, Cobra was laughing so hard his entire body was shaking, Gajeel was laughing and pointing at the blond, and Rogue had a smile on his face while his eyes danced with Wendy's.

The entire guild was staring at them, but she didn't care, everything was going great. She really should have knocked on wood, because as soon as it had come, the happy cheerful atmosphere was gone - dead. She blamed the arrival of the messenger from Lamia Scale, who bore news of an attack on the latter's guildhall. Couldn't war wait another five minutes?

…

Wendy fidgeted as Makarov exited his office, looking grave. The man behind him - a man with braided blue hair and large eyebrows - looked anxious, angry, and frustrated all at the same time.

"What's going on?" Mira questioned from a table she was serving.

"Mira, my dear, recall all missions immediately. Apologize to the customers and compensate for their loss, I need everyone here to hear this." Makarov ordered. Mira looked worried, but she did so without a question. About an hour later, an angry Gray and a confused Juvia entered the guildhall, closely followed by a couple by the names of Alzack and Bisca.

"What the hell, gramps? What's with calling us back like that? We were nearly done." Gray demanded.

"Juvia would like to know as well why she and Gray-sama were forced to abandon their mission." Juvia said quietly.

"Enough, Gray, I will answer your questions as soon as everyone returns. I promise." Makarov said firmly. Juvia wandered over to where Wendy and her brothers were sitting.

"What is going on? Is that not a member of Lamia Scale?" Juvia asked Gajeel as she sat beside him.

"It is. He brought word of an attack on their headquarters, but we don't know anything else because Master Makarov took him into his office for the rest of the details." Evergreen said, frowning slightly.

"That is strange. Usually they can handle themselves." Juvia also frowned. "They are not a weak guild, any attack on them that can make one of their members look so disheveled is not one to be taken lightly." Evergreen murmured in agreement while Wendy and her brothers looked confused.

"Wait. Why would his appearance make any difference?" Natsu asked.

"Look at him. He is wearing dirty and stained clothes, probably hasn't changed since he left to deliver his message, and he looks pale and his eyes have bags beneath them. His hair's a mess and he looks like he could drop any moment from either exhaustion or stress." Evergreen pointed out.

"This is quite unusual for someone of Lamia Scale's guild. They are quite proper and they usually come looking very put together. I'm guessing he has been traveling for several days, given the state of his clothes. He most likely didn't stop often at all to eat or sleep and he might have had to use a lot of magic before he came here. Evergreen-san is quite right in saying he looks like he will drop soon, Juvia is surprised he hasn't already." Juvia added.

"He smells of smoke." Wendy said thoughtfully. Eight pairs of eyes swung around and landed on her.

"You're right, kid, and he smells of trees, smoke, and sweat." Gajeel agreed.

"He also smells of blood." Rogue added ominously.

"Can't even decipher the guy's thoughts, they're too chaotic and unorganized. As soon as he lands on one subject, he immediately goes off thinking about something else." Cobra noted.

"What can you get from it?" Laxus asked, ignoring the stares of Evergreen and Juvia. Cobra frowned in concentration.

"Worry, obviously. Worry that his … guildmates are safe? Worry that we won't get there in time." He began.

"Get where?" Wendy asked.

"I don't know, but it isn't the guildhall. Frustration because he feels useless about something, and incredible hopelessness," Cobra said slowly. The others exchanged glances. "Something major happened over there, this was more than just some attack on the guildhall, I think they're actually in trouble." Cobra said.

Juvia gasped. Everyone looked at her.

"Evergreen-san… you don't think it could be…?" She whispered in horror. Evergreen looked shocked.

"No! They're gone, I mean, we defeated them… right?" She looked unsure.

"Not all of the members were accounted for. Perhaps this is revenge?" Juvia looked nervous.

"Lamia Scale did play a large part in that, second only to us, but we're stronger than they are…" Evergreen trailed off as Juvia started to look sick.

"What's the matter, Rainwoman? Who're you talking about?" Gajeel demanded. Juvia and Evergreen exchanged looks.

"There was this group…" Evergreen started, but was interrupted by the opening of the guildhall doors. In staggered a young man with matted brownish blond hair and a torn blue suit. Wendy gasped as she immediately began to catalog his physical state.

"Hibiki-san?" Juvia looked startled.

"Guys, he isn't looking good." Wendy whispered to her brothers. That was a severe understatement. 'Hibiki' looked worse than the blue-haired man. His hair was wet and matted with dirt and blood - some of which looked ominously fresh; his clothes were dirty and wet with water, sweat, and more blood; his face was startlingly pale against his ruined dark suit; he limped as he inched forward, and he seemed to favor his left arm. His face was splashed with blood, all of which had dried, his shoes were missing and his feet were torn and bloodied, and he had a stream of blood running down his leg and onto the floor. _Drip - drip - drip_.

"Status report." Laxus whispered to Wendy and Cobra.

"R-right. From what I can tell, he has a dislocated right arm, a broken or sprained ankle - probably the latter since it's really hard to walk with a un-splinted break - um, some kind of head wound and possible concussion, and what looks like a wound from magic on his side. Other than that, magic exhaustion, dehydration and not enough food, minor bruises and contusions, no visible lacerations, and I'll have to check for internal bleeding." She responded automatically. Juvia and Evergreen stared at her.

"Cobra?" Laxus was all business.

"I can barely hear his mind, it's like he's on autopilot and he isn't thinking or something. I can hear whispers here and there, but I can't get too much. I think his guildhall was attacked as well. He might be the only one who got away?" Cobra said quietly. Juvia and Evergreen changed from gaping in surprise to sick with worry in a split second.

"H-help." The man breathed, making his way to the bar where Mira was staring in shock. "Please, you have to... Go help, almost everyone is gone..." He leaned heavily against the wood. Makarov came from behind the wounded mage and put a hand on his arm.

"Sit down and start from the beginning." He ordered kindly. "Mira, please fetch him a drink and someone get some bandages." Wendy rose and quietly padded over to the two.

"I can do better. Let me run a diagnostic spell on him, and I'll heal what I can." She stated quietly. Makarov looked at her in surprise.

"I assure you that I am very good at healing. It is one of my specialties after all, just ask my brothers." Wendy reassured him. He looked conflicted, but at a nod from Laxus, he gestured for her to continue. Wendy approached the wounded man hesitantly.

"Excuse me, I'm Wendy and I can heal you, if you'll let me." She told him quietly.

Hibiki looked around in surprise.

Barely waiting for him to nod, she stepped forward and muttered under breath, examining his body for wounds not caused by magic - she'd get to those later.

Her eyes widened with what she found. She immediately brought over a stool and had him sit down to ease the pressure on his broken ribs and injured leg.

She made a mental list as she ran over him again, cursing in between her spells as the list grew larger.

"That isn't nice to say." Hibiki looked amused, despite the fact that he could pass out at any moment. She ignored him, and continued her scan. Once done, she asked Mira for a piece of paper, on which she listed a number of supplies and medicines she would need. She handed this back, and Mira went to search while Wendy started a search for magic-inflicted wounds.

Scratches and minor cuts were ignored, though all of them were checked for poison, but when she reached his torso her eyes widened in horror.

"Strip." She commanded shortly. Hibiki turned pink while everyone who heard spluttered in surprise. "Now. You will most likely die from blood loss and a number of other things if I can't see why you're covered with magical residue that smells of evil. Now strip." Wendy watched as he did so, making sure he didn't injure his arm more. As she walked around his torso, she leaned back and breathed through her mouth so that she wouldn't panic or faint.

Hibiki's back was covered in half healed lacerations that weren't deep, but registered as the result of dark magic. His front half was severely burned and bruised, dark energy seemed to cling to the burns, making Wendy absently wonder what could have possibly caused them.

She decided to start with the man's back, thinking her threat of blood loss wasn't so far off after all. She was only vaguely aware of Mira's return and gasp of horror as she went through various healing and cleansing spells in her mind, not having started the process yet. She would need to be careful when using her magic.

Healing was expensive to the castor; even simple spells could take too much if she didn't plan out what she was going to do. She didn't want to cause him any unnecessary pain, so a temporary nerve-numbing solution would have to do for the more serious injuries. Except for the burn, she wanted to make sure he could actually feel, she hoped he could because restoring dead nerves was a bit complicated.

Mind made up, she stood behind him and placed a hand on the base of his neck and she murmured a spell that would hopefully keep the worst of the pain at bay while she worked. She began to cleanse and heal his back, only enough to close them - reminding herself that she still had the rest of the body to deal with. As she worked, Wendy heard Makarov begin to question Hibiki.

"What happened, Hibiki?" He asked kindly. Hibiki drew in a shuddering breath, though that might have been due to the fact that Wendy had just closed several of his wounds.

"Two days ago, we were attacked by the dark guild, Tartaros. It, along with several other dark guilds assaulted our guild hall when the majority of our members were there. Master Bob had called a meeting, and the only ones exempt were those who were away on missions that were too far to be recalled on such short notice. He had barely started when our entire base blew up.

'Then, _they _entered. One member from Tartaros seemed to be in charge of the other three dark guilds. I-they wanted revenge, for what happened with the Oración Seis, for all three of the dark guilds were ones that had been under their control. Naked Mummy, Red Hood, and Dark Unicorn were all present. The attack was organized, so clearly what happened during the battle had been carefully planned for beforehand.

'Of course, we fought back, and had it just been those three dark guilds we might have won, but that member from Tartaros changed the tide as soon he - or _it_ \- entered the fray. We had beaten off the majority of the enemies, when _it _entered and it revived the dead members of the dark guilds. It controls dead people I guess, and that made everything harder. Every time we killed someone, it would bring them back, and it attacked too.

'He attacked us with a dark aura of sorts, which used darkness to hit a large amount of us all at once. And if any of us got close to his body, they got sick within minutes; his body caused both Magic deficiency and illness, which would have been hard to cope with even if we weren't in the midst of a battle." Hibiki took a drink while everyone stared in horror and astonishment. Wendy could hear him, but she couldn't lose focus and leave off of her healing, he deserved more than that. She was surprised he was still standing after the two day journey and magic battle he'd experience. Grueling seemed extremely weak for a word to describe what he'd been through.

"Why do you keep calling the member from Tartaros 'it'?" Mira asked, reaching to help Wendy by cleaning off the blood from Hibiki's back.

"Tartaros' members aren't human. They're demons," Hibiki answered flatly. Everyone stared.

"What?" Gajeel asked blankly.

"You heard me. Believe me or don't, I nor anyone else from my guild certainly didn't, until it started fighting. They don't use magic like we do, they use Curses. It's different. According to them, since humans are inferior beings that aren't worth anything, Magic is too unimportant, so they use Curses instead." Hibiki clarified, wincing as Mira rubbed a sore spot.

"We'll get to that later on. Continue please, Hibiki," Makarov said, quelling any further questions.

Hibiki looked grateful; Wendy guessed he wanted to stop as little as possible.

"Right. So, the demon - it called itself 'Keyes' or, 'The Black Archbishop' got semi-serious when the Ichiya and the others joined. That's when things started to go downhill," Hibiki sighed. Wendy listened in horrified fascination as Hibiki depicted the battle, she could see it very clearly in her head. The battle had gone well, at first. Though surprised, the members of Blue Pegasus had quickly recovered and soon were fighting back at full strength. It had helped a great deal that the majority of their members were there, an oversight on their enemies' parts perhaps.

They had blown through the first half of the opposing forces with minimal casualties - most of them caused by the explosion rather than the attack itself - when the Black Archbishop had joined the battle. Then, it became even. But, when the Tartaros member began raising the dead, even those of Blue Pegasus, to fight the Major Guild, things looked very bleak. Ichiya and the Trimens had tried a last ditch effort attack on the demon in an attempt to stop the resurrecting, but they had not accounted for the demon's harmful presence.

Ichiya had been the first one to notice after a perfume-enhanced punch that had gone right through the demon's face. Shortly after, he had begun to show signs of sickness, worrying his fellow guild mates. He caught a great amount of the vapor left behind by the Black Archbishop, and had collapsed several minutes later. Hibiki had rushed him to the back of the guild hall while the other Trimens had held off the demon. Before Hibiki could make it too far, however, the Black Archbishop resurrected another wave, and the Archive Mage had been forced to drop his leader in order to defend himself from the onslaught.

Minutes later, he noticed that Ichiya had disappeared, along with a large amount of his guild mates. Bob had appeared then, and had ordered Hibiki to run to the nearest ally to call for aid and to explain the situation as their communication lacrima had been destroyed in the explosion that had decimated their guild hall. His last view of the guild hall and its members had been a small group of mages desperately fighting off a larger swarm of deceased enemies and former friends alike.

Hibiki had obeyed his Master's final wish and he had run for two days without eating or sleeping in order to reach Fairy Tail. He had stopped only to catch his breath and check his position before continuing again, not even resting to take care of his wounds.

The guild hall was silent in a contemplative and nervous way that made Wendy shiver slightly. She moved on to Hibiki's limbs, having finished his back and torso while he had been speaking. Mira absently handed her a wet cloth, clearly deep in thought as well.

"I won't reassure you - tell you that everything will be okay and that your friends are safe - you are not naive enough. But I _will _tell you this, Fairy Tail and its Sub-guilds will do our best to ensure any remaining members of your guild are rescued and treated." Makarov said finally, breaking the silence.

"Thank you." Hibiki looked exhausted.

'_No wonder. This man is amazing, his adrenaline and determination kept him going through what would even make one of my brothers drop.' _Wendy thought, popping Hibiki's arm back in it's socket.

"Hibiki, you will rest and follow Wendy's orders on medical treatment. Mira you will aid her in any way. The rest of you, I must get our Sub-guilds together in a general meeting." Makarov announced.

"Wait, why is Yuka here?" Someone called. Makarov looked grim and turned to blue-haired man, who shook his head.

"My issue is similar, but on a much smaller scale. Tartaros also attempted to assault our guild hall, but because we happened to be having a convention with our Sub-guilds, we managed to fend them off. We don't know for how long though. They captured two of our members, and Ooba Babasaama requested aid in their recovery. However, in light of what Lates just told us, I believe that taking Tartaros down and recovering any remaining Blue Pegasus members takes priority. I will be sure to inform her, she will understand." Yuka declared. Gray frowned.

"Who was taken?" He asked, sounding a little concerned.

"Sherry Blendy and Toby Horhota; Sherry's younger cousin, Sherria **(1)** is understandably distraught. Lyon is safe, though quite eager to regain his friends." Yuka responded quickly. Gray turned his head.

"I'm not worried about that bastard." He muttered, refusing to look anyone in the eye.

"Right. We could very well retrieve them when we rescue the others anyway." Makarov mused.

"Gather weapons and supplies, we will have to call that convention quickly, and be ready to move out at a words notice." He ordered. Natsu's head shot up, as did many others'.

"Wait, are you suggesting what I think you are?" Laxus asked slowly.

"Of course. We would hardly be allies otherwise. Yuka, Erza, come with me, everyone else, get ready immediately!" Makarov ushered the two into his office and shut the door. The guild hall erupted into a flurry of movement and noise.

"Wait!" Wendy shouted as she and Mira led Hibiki to the back room reserved for medical patients. "What's going on?"

"You heard what Evergreen said about allies, didn't you?" Mira smiled. Wendy imagined there was sadistic delight there; it would have suited a demon.

"Y-you mean…?" She gaped, unsure of whether to continue. Mira's evil smile became more pronounced.

"Oh yes, Wendy. Fairy Tail is going to war."

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**Yeah, lots of talking, but next chapter will have action! Sorry not much action from Freed or Bickslow, but Evergreen and Wendy had a nice chat. See you around, and please drop a review on your way out :). Also. Someone wanted me to do their OC with Wendy... How do you all feel? PM me for details. Or just leave a review, whichever works XD.**

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**(1) Yeah, so I don't know her actual name (so embarrassing!) Can anyone tell me? I think it's Sherria, but everyone says something different...thanks!**

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**Guest Reviews Bottom to Top:**

**Guest: Thanks so much for the support! Sorry I'm so late, life got in the way and I re-wrote this a couple times. I also love sibling Dragon Slayer fics because I think they're so cute and nice. Dragons look after their own after all. Yup, I'm glad they made it through too, though will they make it through Tartaros? Anyway, thanks for the review!**

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**See you soon! (And tell me if there are any mistakes.)  
**


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